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THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY    ■ 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALifORNIA,  SAN  DIEGO 
LA  JOLLA,  CALIFORNIA 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA.  SAN  DIEGO 


3  1822  00639  6758 


BOOKS  BY  FREDERIC  C.  HOWE 

Published  by  CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 

European  Cities  at  Work.     12ino.       net,  SI. 75 

Wisconsin:  An  Experiment  in  Democ- 
racy.   12mo net,  $1.25 

Privilege  and  Democracy  in   America. 

12mo net,  $1.50 

Tlie  British  City:  The  Beginning  of  De- 
mocracy.   12mo         .       .       .       net,  $1.50 

The  City:  The  Hope  of  Democracy.  12mo 

net,  $1.50 


EUROPEAN   CITIES  AT  WORK 


U    S£ 


■28 


O  ^2 

^5 


i?S 


EUROPEAN  CITIES 
AT  WORK 


BY 

FREDERIC  C.  HOWE,  Ph.D. 

AX7THOB    OF    "THE    CITY:     THE    HOPE    OF    DEMOCRACY,"      "  THE    BBITISH    CITT:     THB 
BBQINNINQS   OF   DEMOCRACY,"    "PRIVILEGE    AND    DEMOCRACY    IN 

AMERICA,"   "Wisconsin:  an  experiment 
IN  democracy" 


NEW  YORK 
CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 

1913 


COPTBIOHT.    1913,   BT 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


Published  May.  1913 


TO 

NEWTON    D.    BAKER 

A  MAYOR  WITH   VISION 

THIS  BOOK 

IB  AFFECTIONATELY  DEDICATED 


PREFACE 

Some  years  ago  I  wrote  a  book  which  bore  the 
title  "The  City:  The  Hope  of  Democracy."  The 
subtitle  was  received  with  protest  by  some,  with 
incredulity  by  others. 

There  was  little  to  justify  hope  at  that  time.  Our 
cities  were  under  the  searchlight,  and  the  evils  dis- 
closed seemed  inherent  in  great  industrial  aggre- 
gations of  people.  How  could  the  city  govern  itself 
honestly  and  efficiently  under  democratic  forms;  how 
could  it  assimilate  great  masses  of  untrained  foreign- 
born  people;  how  could  it  relieve  poverty,  vice,  and 
disease?  The  city  seemed  to  many  to  be  the  behe- 
moth of  civilization. 

Since  then  there  have  been  house-cleanings  all  over 
the  land.  A  new  feeling  of  confidence  has  arisen,  in 
which  democracy  is  the  dominant  note.  Reform  has 
brought  with  it  the  commission  form  of  government, 
simple,  direct  primaries,  the  short  ballot,  and  the 
abolition  of  the  party  emblem  on  the  one  hand,  and 
on  the  other  the  ownership  or  control  of  public-service 
corporations,  the  protection  of  human  health  and 
life,  the  play-ground,  and,  more  recently,  the  com- 
prehensive planning  and  building  of  cities.    Reform 


viii  PREFACE 

is  both  political  and  social.  It  is  already  beginning 
to  change  the  face  of  our  cities. 

As  yet  there  are  but  few  commanding  achieve- 
ments. We  do  not  think  in  big  community  terms. 
We  have  not  begun  to  plan  and  build  with  a  vision 
of  the  whole.  We  do  not  appreciate  the  possibilities 
of  city  life.  But  there  are  cities  that  justify  hope; 
cities  that  are  administered  by  trained  officials; 
cities  that  are  built  by  far-seeing  statesmen,  and  that 
consciously  promote  comfort,  convenience,  happi- 
ness, life.  Such  cities  are  to  be  found  in  Germany, 
and  in  a  less  developed  degree  in  the  other  countries 
of  Europe  as  well. 

And  this  is  a  study  of  these  old-world  cities  as 
they  appear  to  an  American;  it  is  a  study  gained 
from  contact  with  burgomasters,  officials,  and  busi- 
ness men  in  Berlin,  Frankfort,  Hamburg,  Diisseldorf, 
Dresden,  Munich,  Vienna,  and  Brussels;  with  the 
mayors  and  councilmen  of  Glasgow,  Manchester, 
Liverpool,  and  London.  It  is  the  result  of  many 
visits  to  Europe,  one  of  which  was  to  make  a  mu- 
nicipal investigation  for  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment ;  another  was  made  as  a  member  of  the  Boston 
Chamber  of  Commerce  Party  in  1911,  which  went 
to  Europe  to  study  city  conditions.  It  is  a  study  of 
the  things  that  distinguish  the  European  cities  from 
our  own. 

And  the  German  city  is  an  experiment-station  for 
all  of  us.    It  is  SLfreistadt,  a  little  republic,  with  power 


PREFACE  ix 

to  do  almost  anything  for  the  welfare  of  the  people. 
The  city  is  sovereign,  and  it  uses  its  sovereignty  to 
build  in  a  conscious,  intelligent  way.  It  can  mould 
its  destiny  as  did  the  cities  of  ancient  Greece.  It 
controls  property  as  well  as  people.  It  acts  with  a 
vision  of  the  future;  not  alone  of  the  city,  but  of  the 
lives  and  comfort  of  the  people  as  well.  The  Ger- 
man city  is  being  built  something  as  Pericles  built 
Athens,  as  Louis  XIV  planned  Versailles,  as  the  two 
Napoleons  rebuilt  Paris. 

Twenty  years  ago  the  phrase  "municipal  house- 
keeping" was  common  in  Germany.  This  expressed 
the  current  ideals  of  city  administration.  Thought 
has  progressed  since  then.  Men  now  talk  about 
"conmiunity  living."  Officials  seem  to  realize  that 
the  city  involves  vicarious  costs  that  can  and  should 
be  shifted  from  those  who  suffer  from  city  conditions 
onto  those  who  profit  by  them. 

And  already  the  cities  of  Germany,  and  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  those  of  Great  Britain  and  the  Con- 
tinent, have  demonstrated  that  many  of  the  sac- 
rifices of  the  modern  industrial  city  can  be  avoided. 
Poverty  can  be  reduced,  and  the  life  of  the  people 
be  enriched  in  countless  ways  not  possible  under 
rural  conditions.  Cities  realize  that  many  activities 
are  so  closely  related  to  the  life  of  the  people  that 
they  cannot  with  safety  be  left  in  private  hands. 
There  must  be  provision  for  play,  for  leisure,  as  well 
as  for  education.    The  land-owner  and  the  house- 


CONTENTS 

PAOB 

Preface ▼" 

CHAPTEB 

I.    The  Birth  of  the  German  City 3 

II.    Impressions  of  European  Cities 11 

III.      DtJSSELDORF   and   MUNICIPAL  SOCIALISM 37 

IV.    Frankfort-on-the-Main — An  Example  of  Busi- 
ness Administration 68 

V.    Town  Planning  and  City  Building 86 

VI.    Cities  for  People Ill 

VII.    Protectinq  the  Worker 125 

VIII.    The  Vision  of  the  German  Citt 143 

IX.    The  Housing  Problem  in  Germany 156 

X.    Socializing  the  Means  of  Transit 177 

XI.    New  Sources  of  Revenue;    The  Unearned  In- 
crement Taxes 189 

XII.    The  Budget  of  the  German  City     208 

XIII.  How  the  German  City  is  Governed 219 

XIV.  The  Business  Men  Who  Rule  the  German  City 

AND  Their  Ideals 243 

XV.    The  Explanation  of  the  German  City  ....  252 

XVI.    Impressions  of  the  British  City 271 

XVII.    How  the  British  City  is  Governed 293 

xiii 


XIV  CONTENTS 

CHAFTEB  PAOa 

XVIII.    The  Explanation  op  thk  British  City    ....  309 

XIX.    Municipal  Ownership  op  the  Gas  Supply  .   .   .  328 

XX.    Municipal  Transit  in  Great  Britain 334 

XXI.    The  American  and  European  City — A  Compari- 
son       346 

Index 363 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Letchworth  Garden  City      Frontispiece 

TACINa 
PAGE 

German  Railway  Stations     12 

Town  Planning  Suburban  Allotment,  Dusseldorp  ...       44 
Frankfort-on-the-Main.     Municipal   Theatre   and   R6- 

MERBERG 70 

Streets:  Charlottenburg  and  Frankfort-on-the-Main  .       94 

Elevated  Railway  Station,  Berlin,  and  River  Embank- 
ment,   DUSSELDORF 106 

Palm  Garden,  Frankfort,  and  Exposition  Park,  Munich     148 

Berlin    Model   Apartments.    Essen    Altenhof.    Work- 
men's Colony 166 

The  Elevated  Railway  in  Berlin 184 

City  Halls,  Dresden  and  Munich 258 

Port  Sunlight,  Garden  City,  Residence  Street  ....  288 

Port  Sunlight  Back  Gardens      306 


EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 


CHAPTER  I 
THE   BIRTH  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY 

I  KNOW  of  no  cities  in  the  modem  world  which 
compare  with  those  which  have  arisen  in  Germany 
during  the  past  twenty  years.  There  are  none  in 
Great  Britain,  from  which  comitiy  official  delega- 
tions constantly  cross  the  North  Sea  to  study  the 
achievements  of  the  German  city.  There  are  none 
in  France,  in  which  country  the  building  of  cities 
has  made  but  httle  progress  since  the  planning 
projects  of  Baron  Haussmann  made  Paris  the  beau- 
tiful city  that  it  is. 

There  have  been  three  great  periods  in  which  the 
building  of  cities  inspired  the  dreams  of  men.  In  the 
age  of  the  Antonines  the  Roman  people  gave  them- 
selves with  enthusiasm  to  the  embelhshment  of  their 
capital.  The  public  structures,  temples,  amphithe- 
atres, and  palaces  then  erected  still  remain  the  won- 
der of  subsequent  centuries.  Durmg  the  later  Mid- 
dle Ages  the  cities  of  Italy,  France,  Germany,  and 
the  Netherlands  erected  similar  monuments  expres- 
sive of  the  pride  awakened  by  their  freedom.  Now 
again  in  the  twentieth  centuiy  the  German  people 
are  expressing  their  love  of  the  fatherland  in  monu- 
ments of  the  same  permanent  character  and  artistic 


4  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

splendor.  Capital  cities  like  Berlin,  Munich,  and 
Dresden,  as  well  as  more  commercial  cities  like  Diis- 
seldorf,  Mannheim,  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  Cologne, 
Leipsic,  and  Stuttgart,  are  vying  with  one  another 
in  the  beautiful,  the  orderly,  and  the  serviceable. 

Important  as  are  the  honesty  and  the  efficiency  of 
the  German  city,  it  is  the  bigness  of  vision,  boldness 
of  execution,  and  far-sighted  outlook  on  the  future 
that  are  most  amazing.  Germany  is  building  her 
cities  as  Bismarck  perfected  the  army  before  Sa- 
dowa  and  Sedan;  as  the  empire  is  building  its  war- 
ships and  merchantmen ;  as  she  develops  her  water- 
ways and  educational  systems.  The  engineer  and 
the  architect,  the  artist  and  the  expert  in  hygiene 
are  alike  called  upon  to  contribute  to  the  city's  mak- 
ing. The  German  cities  are  thinking  of  to-morrow 
as  well  as  of  to-day,  of  the  generations  to  follow  as 
well  as  the  generation  that  is  now  upon  the  stage. 
Germany  almost  alone  among  the  civilized  nations 
sees  the  city  as  the  permanent  centre  of  the  civ- 
ilization of  the  future,  and  Germany  almost  alone 
is  building  her  cities  to  make  them  contribute  to  the 
happiness,  health,  and  well-being  of  the  people.  This 
seems  to  be  the  primar}^  consideration  with  officials 
and  citizens.  It  is  this  that  distinguishes  the  cities 
of  this  country  from  the  other  cities  of  the  world. 

Far-sightedness  characterizes  Germany  in  all 
things.  The  Kaiser  seems  to  see  the  eagle  of  the 
Hohenzollerns  not  only  at  the  head  of  his  battahons 


THE  BIRTH  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY  5 

and  flying  at  the  mast-head  of  his  dreadnoughts;  he 
sees  not  only  the  merchant  marine  challenging  the 
supremacy  of  Great  Britain  and  the  German  factory- 
burrowing  its  way  into  the  ports  of  the  world;  he 
sees  as  well  that  his  people  are  being  drawn  from 
the  countryside  and  into  the  cities.  Already  49  per 
cent,  of  the  people  are  living  in  towns,  while  the  per- 
centage living  in  cities  of  over  100,000  has  increased 
50  per  cent,  in  ten  years'  time.  Further  than  this, 
the  reports  of  ministers  disclose  the  fact  that  poverty 
has  come  in  with  the  city;  that  something  like  80  per 
cent,  of  the  population  of  the  larger  towns  is  living 
in  cellars,  garrets,  or  under  unsanitar}^  surroundings. 
And,  far-sighted  statesman  that  he  is,  the  Kaiser  sees 
that  his  regiments  and  his  battle-ships,  no  less  than 
the  mills  and  the  factories,  must  be  manned  by  strong 
and  well-educated  men.  These  the  city  is  imperil- 
ling. It  is  sapping  the  Hfe  of  the  people.  And  the 
Kaiser  and  his  ministers  are  studying  the  city  as 
they  do  their  engines  of  warfare;  they  are  thinking 
of  human  beings  as  well  as  of  rifles;  of  protecting 
men  as  well  as  of  destroying  them. 

All  Germany,  in  fact,  seems  organized  with  the 
definite  ambition  of  becoming  the  dominant  force  in 
the  world.  This  is  a  conscious  purpose,  not  of  the 
Kaiser  alone,  not  of  his  ministers,  but  of  councillors, 
business  men,  and  citizens.  The  army  and  navy  are 
but  parts  of  this  programme.  The  university  and 
the  technical  schools,  the  colleges  of  commerce,  the 


6  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

classical  and  the  scientific  academies,  even  the  com- 
mon schools  themselves,  are  part  of  a  national  engine 
designed  to  produce  the  highest  possible  efficiency  in 
65,000,000  people.  Health  is  studied.  Education 
is  adjusted  to  new  conditions.  The  children  are 
watched  over  and  cared  for.  There  are  insurance, 
pensions,  and  hundreds  of  agencies  to  protect  the 
worker  from  accidents,  disease,  and  even  the  in- 
termittent nature  of  his  work. 

The  railways  are  owned  by  the  state  and  are 
used  as  an  agency  to  promote  the  empire.  Rates  and 
charges  are  adjusted  to  bring  fuel  and  raw  materials 
to  the  manufacturer  and  to  give  him  in  turn  prefer- 
ential rates  to  the  markets  of  the  world.  The  rivers 
Rhine  and  Elbe  are  deepened  almost  to  their  sources 
to  cheapen  transportation  and  develop  new  centres 
of  industiy,  while  canals  mtersect  the  country  in 
every  direction.  At  Hamburg,  Bremen,  Kiel,  great 
ocean  harbors  have  been  constructed  in  the  face  of 
natural  obstacles  that  would  have  discouraged  other 
peoples,  while  along  the  Rhine  practically  every  city 
has  developed  docks  and  harbors,  almost  any  one  of 
them  superior  to  the  ocean  docks  of  an  American 
city.  Through  these  harbors  cities  have  been  con- 
nected with  the  sea,  while  round  about  them  indus- 
trial areas  have  been  opened  up  with  cheap  manu- 
facturing sites  and  the  best  of  water  and  railway 
transportation.  There  is  no  conflict  between  the 
railways  and  the  water-ways,  no  struggle  to  strangle 


THE  BIRTH  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY  7 

the  canals  or  to  prevent  competition.  Transporta- 
tion is  open  to  all  on  equal  terms,  irrespective  of 
the  size  of  the  undertaking. 

In  this  imperial  movement  the  cities  have  become 
one  of  the  chief  agencies  in  the  industrial  develop- 
ment of  the  country.  They  compete  with  one  an- 
other, but  never  against  the  empire.  The  business 
men  who  rule  them  seem  to  think  in  social  rather 
than  in  individual  terms.  They  have  a  sense  of  team- 
play,  of  co-roperative  effort,  of  being  willing  to  sacri- 
fice their  immediate  individual  interests  to  the  wel- 
fare of  the  community.  Cities  co-operate  with  the 
state,  they  spend  generously  for  education,  they  make 
provision  for  hospitals,  for  recreation,  for  housing  the 
people.  The  city  partakes  of  the  spirit  of  the  em- 
pire. It  inspires  a  kind  of  loyalty  I  have  never  seen 
in  any  other  country  in  the  world.  Germany  is 
treating  the  new  behemoth  of  civilization,  the  mod- 
ern industrial  city,  as  a  creature  to  be  controlled, 
and  made  to  serve  rather  than  to  impair  or  destroy 
humanity.  She  is  doing  this  through  city  planning, 
the  new  art  of  city  building;  through  education; 
through  sanitation  and  hygiene;  by  uniting  the  ex- 
pert with  the  administrator,  and  by  making  science 
the  handmaiden  of  politics. 

The  German  city,  like  our  own,  is  the  product  of 
the  last  generation.  Only  its  location,  its  traditions, 
its  royal  palaces,  and  its  beauty  are  old.  Diisseldorf 
had  but  70,000  people  in  1871;  it  now  has  356,000. 


8  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

Frankfort-on-the-Main  has  grown  from  80,000  in 
1871  to  411,000  in  1910.  Berlin  was  a  capital  city 
of  but  800,000  in  1870;  to-day  it  contains  2,064,153 
people.  There  are  thirty-three  cities  in  Germany 
whose  combined  population  is  over  12,000,000  peo- 
ple. This  is  20  per  cent,  of  the  whole,  while  the  total 
urban  population  equals  49  per  cent,  of  the  total. 

We  are  accustomed  to  think  that  the  American 
city  is  anomalous  in  its  growth.  But  the  American 
city  is  typical  of  the  industrial  world,  whether  it  be 
in  Germany,  England,  France,  Belgium,  or  Italy. 
The  city  is  a  product  of  the  nineteenth  century;  it 
is  a  by-product  of  steam,  electricity,  and  transpor- 
tation. Civilized  life  has  become  urban,  and  to  an 
increasing  extent  metropolitan.  And  in  all  proba- 
bility the  city  will  continue  to  contain  an  increasing 
percentage  of  the  people  in  all  civilized  countries. 
It  is  the  official  recognition  of  this  fact  and  the 
organized  effort  to  control  the  urban  problem  that 
makes  the  German  city  unique  among  the  cities  of 
the  world. 

The  German  city  has  sprung  into  existence  during 
the  past  thirty  years.  There  were  but  few  industries 
of  any  importance  prior  to  the  formation  of  the  em- 
pire in  1871.  In  1816  less  than  2  per  cent,  of  the 
population  of  Prussia  lived  in  cities  of  over  100,000 
population.  By  the  middle  of  the  century  the  per- 
centage had  crept  to  only  4  per  cent.  This  was  the 
era  of  immigration  to  the  United  States.    Only  after 


THE  BIRTH  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY  9 

the  war  with  France  did  Germany  respond  to  the 
industrial  revolution  which  began  in  England  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  awaken- 
ing came  with  the  formation  of  the  empire  and  the 
French  indemnity  paid  on  the  close  of  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War.  At  that  time  68  per  cent,  of  the  pop- 
ulation was  engaged  in  agriculture.  By  1907  the 
percentage  had  fallen  to  28  per  cent.  In  the  latter 
year  the  percentage  engaged  in  industry  amounted 
to  43  per  cent,  of  the  total.  Almost  the  whole  in- 
crease in  population  in  the  last  generation,  or  about 
24,000,000,  has  been  added  to  the  cities.  In  1871 
only  25  per  cent,  of  the  people  lived  in  towns  of 
more  than  5,000  people,  at  which  time  there  were  but 
nine  cities  of  over  100,000  population.  There  are 
now  forty-seven. 

According  to  the  census  of  1910  there  were  seven 
cities  in  Germany  with  more  than  half  a  million 
people.  They  are  Berlin  (without  including  the 
suburbs),  2,064,153;  Hamburg,  936,000;  Munich, 
593,053;  Leipsic,  585,743;  Dresden,  546,882;  Co- 
logne, 511,042;  and  Breslau,  510,929.  There  are 
four  cities  with  more  than  300,000  people.  They  are 
Frankfort-on-the-Main,  with  414,406;  Diisseldorf, 
with  356,733;  Nuremberg,  with  332,539;  and  Char- 
lottenburg  (a  suburb  of  Berlin),  with  304,280. 
Twelve  other  cities  have  more  than  200,000  and 
twenty-four  others  have  from  100,000  to  200,000 
people. 


10 


EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 


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pio    1 

CHAPTER  II 

IMPRESSIONS  OF  EUROPEAN  CITIES 

No  Baedeker  is  needed  to  advise  the  traveller  he 
has  entered  a  new  countiy  as  he  crosses  the  boun- 
daries of  Holland,  Belgium,  or  France  into  Germany. 
If  he  enters  at  Cologne,  Diisseldorf,  or  Frankfort,  as 
many  travellers  do,  he  comes  at  once  to  the  most 
finished  cities  of  the  modern  world.  Here  in  south 
Germany,  cities  have  grown  with  the  rapidity  of  our 
own;  here  is  industiy  like  that  of  Cleveland,  Detroit, 
or  Pittsburgh;  like  that  of  Sheffield,  Birmingham,  or 
Manchester.  Here  are  iron  and  steel  mills,  machine 
shops,  silk,  woollen,  and  chemical  industries  that 
have  made  "made  in  Germany"  a  nightmare  to  Eng- 
land. Here  along  the  Rhine  are  cities  that  might  be 
like  our  own  factory  towns.  They  might  be  "schlecht 
und  billig,^'  ragged  and  unkempt,  in  need  of  a  survey 
to  arouse  the  people  to  the  dangers  of  their  slums, 
the  backwardness  of  their  schools,  the  poverty  of 
parks  and  playgrounds,  the  lack  of  beauty  and  charm. 
These  cities  might  be  like  Pittsburgh,  Milwaukee, 
Buffalo,  Cleveland,  or  a  score  of  other  American 
cities  which  have  assumed  metropolitan  proportions 

during  the  last  twenty  years. 

11 


12  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

But  these  German  industrial  cities  are  not  mean 
and  tawdry.  They  are  not  like  the  manufacturing 
cities  of  America  or  the  mill  towns  of  the  north  of 
England.  Their  factory  owners  do  not  hasten  to 
Berlin  or  Paris  to  escape  the  dirt  and  smoke  which 
their  mills  create.  They  remain  at  home  and  devote 
themselves  to  the  improvement  of  their  cities,  to 
making  them  attractive  and  livable.  And  in  this 
they  have  succeeded.  For  the  cities  of  south  Ger- 
many are  the  best  examples  in  the  world  of  what 
can  be  done  with  this  problem  that  has  become 
our  despair.  They  do  more  for  their  people  than 
any  cities  I  know,  and  they  do  it  honestly,  efficiently, 
and  well.  That  seems  to  be  the  ambition  of  city 
officials  and  business  men.  That  seems  to  be  the 
ambition  of  the  people,  who  have  a  wonderful  pub- 
lic spirit. 

The  railway  station  is  a  symbol  of  the  whole.  It 
is  like  the  portal  of  a  cathedral  or  the  towering  gate 
of  a  mediaeval  town.  It  is  conmiodious  and  com- 
manding. There  is  ever}--  provision  for  comfort  and 
safety.  Frankfort,  a  city  of  415,000,  has  a  station 
costing  $10,000,000.  It  was  built  when  the  city  had 
only  half  of  its  present  population.  The  stations  of 
Cologne,  Diisseldorf,  Hamburg,  Bremen  are  all  of 
the  same  architectural  splendor.  The  German  city 
would  be  ashamed  to  have  its  gateway  anything  else. 
In  front  of  the  station  is  the  station-place,  the  bahn- 
hofplatz.   In  the  foreground  is  a  formal  flower-garden 


in 

■Hiifl 

Frankfort  Railway  Station. 


Dresden  Railway  Station. 

Railway  stations  are  of  splendid  proportions.    Tracks  rarely  disfigure 
the  city  and  are  built  for  permanence  and  beauty". 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  EUROPEAN  CITIES        13 

surrounded  with  clean,  well-paved  roadways  for  traf- 
fic. Here  the  street  railways  converge.  There  are 
places  for  carriages  and  pedestrians.  Round  about 
the  bahnhofplatz  are  hotels,  restaurants,  and  shops  of 
uniform  height  and  in  harmony  with  the  station  itself. 
The  open  space  is  usually  a  half  circle,  and  is  care- 
fully designed  for  use  and  beauty.  Broad  streets 
radiate  out  from  the  bahnhofplatz,  like  the  ribs  of  a 
fan,  to  different  parts  of  the  city.  They  are  usually 
the  retail  business  streets. 

The  railway  station  is  but  one  of  several  city  cen- 
tres carefully  planned  as  such.  There  is  no  dirt 
or  smoke  and  little  noise  and  confusion.  There  is 
dignity,  comfort,  convenience.  Obviously  the  city's 
gateway  is  under  public  control.  It  is  the  twentieth- 
century  adaptation  of  the  mediaeval  city  gate  that 
has  been  so  carefully  preserved  in  Munich,  Cologne, 
Diisseldorf,  and  elsewhere. 

We  have  made  a  beginning  of  building  gateways 
to  our  cities.  The  Union  Station  at  Washington  is 
of  commanding  size  and  classic  design.  It  opens 
into  a  spacious  plaza  which  at  night  is  brilliantly  il- 
luminated. In  the  distance  the  Senate  building  and 
Capitol  rise  on  Capitol  Hill.  The  intervening  space 
has  been  razed  of  buildings  so  as  not  to  obstruct  the 
vista.  From  this  centre  the  street  railways  radiate. 
The  gateway  of  Washington  is  probably  the  most 
monumental  in  the  world.  It  is  worthy  of  the  cap- 
ital of  the  nation. 


14  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

The  new  Pennsylvania  and  New  York  Central 
stations  in  New  York  are  also  of  magnificent  pro- 
portions. There  is  nothing  in  Europe  to  compare 
with  them.  But  with  few  exceptions  our  cities  have 
been  compelled  to  shift,  as  best  they  can,  with  un- 
sightly, inconvenient,  and  inadequate  stations. 

The  new  Hohenzollern  bridge  across  the  Rhine  at 
Cologne  has  commanded  something  of  the  thought 
that  inspired  the  architects  who  spent  centuries  on 
the  building  of  the  Cologne  cathedral.  It  is  tj'pi- 
cal  of  the  care  shown  railway  and  passenger  bridges 
all  over  Europe.  The  approaches  are  adorned  with 
massive  towers  and  statuary,  while  the  lines  of  the 
bridge  add  greatly  to  the  beauty  of  the  city.  The 
same  concern  is  manifested  in  the  railway  approaches. 
The  railway  is  an  incident.  It  does  not  ravage  whole 
sections  of  the  city,  its  water-fronts  and  dwelling 
areas.  There  are  no  grade  crossings.  The  overhead 
work  is  inconspicuous  and  is  designed  for  beauty. 
The  sides  of  the  tracks  are  sodded  with  grass.  There 
is  every  possible  protection  against  danger. 

We  are  in  the  habit  of  speaking  of  the  superior 
railway  service  in  America,  but  we  overlook  the  ugly 
trail  the  railway  makes.  It  gives  us  speed,  but  at  a 
terrible  cost  to  human  life.  It  ignores  the  rights  of 
the  community  to  cleanliness  and  beauty,  and  im- 
poses a  heavy  cost  on  all  of  us  in  the  way  it  dis- 
figures the  community. 

There  is  no  protracted  warfare  in  Germany  for  the 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  EUROPEAN  CITIES        15 

possession  of  streets  like  that  waged  for  years  to 
force  the  New  York  Central  off  Eleventh  Avenue  in 
New  York.  There  is  no  coercion  to  compel  a  city 
to  give  up  property  worth  millions  as  a  considera- 
tion for  the  building  of  a  railway  station.  There  is 
no  prolonged  htigation  over  water-fronts  like  that 
which  has  exhausted  many  of  our  cities.  There  are 
no  dirty,  incommodious  stations.  In  Germany  the 
railway  is  an  integral  part  of  the  community.  It 
exists  to  serve.  It  is  owned  and  operated  by  the 
state. 

As  one  leaves  the  station  at  Cologne  the  great 
Gothic  cathedral  rises  high  above  the  bahnhofplatz. 
A  few  minutes'  walk  along  a  shaded  river  embank- 
ment brings  one  to  a  broad  parkway  which  encircles 
the  older  part  of  the  city.  It  is  the  Ring  Strasse, 
built  on  the  site  of  the  old  fortifications  which  pro- 
tected the  Rhine  cities  from  their  warring  neighbors. 
As  the  city  outgrew  its  mediaeval  shell,  population 
leaped  over  the  fortifications  and  spread  out  into 
the  country.  Cologne  acquired  the  fortifications 
from  the  nation  at  a  cost  of  $2,950,000,  and  converted 
the  encircling  belt  into  an  octagonal  parkway  which 
separates  the  old  city  from  the  new.  It  was  laid 
out  by  experts  and  adorned  with  gardens  and  flow- 
ering plants.  Upon  it  were  erected  fine  residences 
and  public  structures.  The  ring  strassen  of  Vienna, 
Frankfort,  Bremen,  and  others  of  the  older  cities 
have  been  treated  in  the  same  way.    They  have 


16  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

been  laid  out  with  great  care  and  are  the  most  com- 
manding streets  in  Europe. 

Cologne  is  a  city  of  511,042  population.  The 
official  projects  for  its  suburban  development  are  like 
those  of  most  German  towns.  Uniformity  has  been 
discarded  and  the  streets  have  been  made  as  uncon- 
ventional as  possible.  The  main  traffic  thorough- 
fares are  broad  and  spacious,  but  the  side  streets  are 
designed  to  discourage  traffic  so  as  to  be  cozy,  quiet, 
and  restful.  The}^  are  planned  for  variety.  The 
checker-board  street  so  universal  in  America  is  rarely 
used  in  Germany.  It  is  too  monotonous.  It  affords 
no  vistas  of  house  fronts.  It  is  bad  for  traffic. 
Many  of  these  suburban  streets  are  designed  to  be 
narrow  and  crooked.  Some  of  them  come  to  a  dead 
end.  There  are  numerous  small  parks  and  play- 
grounds. Streets  are  planned  by  artists  and  are 
treated  with  almost  reverential  consideration. 

Even  the  near-by  iron  and  steel  centre  of  Essen 
reflects  the  German  idea  of  what  a  city  should  be. 
Essen  is  the  Pittsburgh  of  Germany.  Here  are  the 
iron  and  steel  mills  of  the  Krupp  Company.  From 
Essen  come  the  engines  of  destruction  for  the  armies 
and  navies  of  the  world.  Essen  has  a  population  of 
294,629.  It  is  almost  exclusively  a  mill  town,  most 
of  the  workingmen  being  employed  by  the  Krupp 
Company.  The  city  has  few  natural  advantages, 
and  does  not  compare  in  beauty  with  Diisseldorf  or 
Cologne.    Yet  it  is  clean,  wholesome,  and  free  from 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  EUROPEAN  CITIES        17 

the  dirt  and  ugliness  that  characterize  Pittsburgh, 
parts  of  Cleveland,  Chicago,  and  Milwaukee,  wher- 
ever the  furnace  and  the  foundry  have  made  their 
home.  There  are  parks  and  trees.  Many  thou- 
sands of  workingmen  are  comfortably  housed  by 
the  Krupp  Company  or  the  municipality  in  beauti- 
ful detached  cottages  or  in  model  tenements  sur- 
rounded by  gardens. 

Rents  in  Essen,  as  in  other  German  towns,  have 
risen  with  great  rapidity  in  recent  years,  thus  caus- 
ing congestion  and  overcrowding.  In  the  private 
apartments  workingmen 's  rooms  rent  for  thirty  dol- 
lars a  year.  In  contrast  with  this  the  one-family 
houses  of  the  Krupp  Colony  rent  for  from  forty-nine 
dollars  to  fifty-five  dollars  a  year.  The  Krupps  de- 
scribe their  plan  of  housing  as  ''one  of  enlightened 
selfishness,  serving  in  the  first  place  to  attract  work- 
ers and  foster  a  filial  loyalty,  as  shown  by  the  small 
number  of  strikes  at  the  works.  By  being  a  land- 
lord itself  it  heightens  the  competition  among  the  other 
landlords^'  This  is  the  motive  of  cities  and  co- 
operative building  societies.  By  building  houses 
they  check  the  rise  of  rents  and  the  greed  of  private 
landlords. 

Around  the  city  of  Essen  are  garden  colonies  like 
the  garden  villages  of  England,  one  of  them,  Alten- 
hof,  being  inhabited  only  by  retired  and  infirm  work- 
men, who  occupy  the  cottages  rent  free.  There  are 
wonderful  hospitals,  sanatoriums,  and  convalescent 


18  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

homes.  Even  in  Essen  the  spirit  of  the  fatherland, 
that  holds  human  Hfe  in  such  high  regard,  prevails 
in  the  minds  of  city  officials  and  employers. 

As  one  sails  up  the  river  Rhine,  city  after  city 
presents  the  same  finished  appearance.  The  river 
banks  are  not  disfigured  with  factories,  warehouses, 
and  private  docks  such  as  line  the  water-fronts  of  our 
cities.  Nor  are  they  appropriated  by  the  railroads. 
In  Bonn,  Coblenz,  Mainz,  and  Wiesbaden  the  em- 
bankments are  clean,  orderly,  and  beautiful.  Land- 
ing stages  are  provided  for  passenger  boats  and 
freight  craft;  there  are  wonderful  harbors  with  hy- 
draulic and  electrical  cranes  for  the  economical  hand- 
ling of  freight;  there  are  pubHc  bath-houses  and  en- 
closed basins  for  pleasure-boats.  The  embankment 
is  a  promenade-way  and  is  lined  with  trees.  There  is 
provision  for  the  widest  possible  use  of  the  water- 
ways for  business  and  pleasure.  The  water-fronts  of 
rivers,  canals,  lakes,  or  inland  water-ways  are  almost 
always  in  public  rather  than  in  private  hands. 

Hamburg,  Bremen,  and  Liibeck  are  city  states. 
They  are  the  only  free  cities  which  remain  of  the  old 
Hanseatic  League.  They  occupy  a  position  in  the 
empire  similar  to  that  of  Prussia,  Bavaria,  Baden, 
or  any  one  of  the  twenty-five  states  that  compose  it. 
They  have  about  the  same  status  as  would  an  Amer- 
ican state  and  city  combined.  And  they  are  as 
proud  of  their  independence  as  were  the  Romans, 
the  Florentines,  or  the  Genoese  of  earher  days.    For 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  EUROPEAN  CITIES        19 

centuries  they  were  members  of  the  Hanseatic  League 
of  towns;  for  centuries  they  maintained  their  liber- 
ties against  the  encroachments  of  surrounding  pow- 
ers. They  had  fleets  and  armies  of  their  own;  they 
made  war  and  treaties.  They  became  rich  in  wealth 
and  in  commerce;  they  developed  a  life  of  their  own 
and  created  among  their  people  a  local  pride  that 
continues  to  distinguish  these  cities  even  to-day.  It 
is  a  greater  honor  in  Hamburg  to  be  one  of  its  sena- 
tors or  burgomasters  than  to  occupy  a  seat  in  the 
Imperial  Reichstag. 

Hamburg  and  Bremen  are  more  like  American 
cities  than  any  in  Germany.  Officials  think  in  terms 
of  business,  of  commerce,  of  the  promotion  of  over- 
seas shipping.  The  street  railways  of  Hamburg  are 
in  private  hands,  and  if  one  comes  from  Diisseldorf 
or  Frankfort,  where  public  ownership  prevails,  the 
difference  in  service,  in  the  courtesy  of  employees, 
and  in  the  many  provisions  for  comfort,  that  seem  to 
follow  in  England  and  Germany  as  a  matter  of  course 
on  pubhc  operation,  is  at  once  manifest.  Nor  is 
there  that  concern  for  the  welfare  of  the  people,  for 
recreation  and  beauty,  that  one  finds  in  the  south 
German  towns,  where  the  business  men  have  risen 
above  a  limited  commercial  point  of  view.  The  im- 
pression one  gets  of  Hamburg  is  of  a  city  that  is 
run  for  business. 

Hamburg  is  situated  on  the  river  Elbe,  seventy 
miles  from  the  sea.    Its  harbor  is  its  life.    The  har- 


20  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

bors  of  Boston,  New  York,  and  many  other  seaport 
towns  in  America  have  far  greater  natural  advan- 
tages, but  Hamburg  has  developed  its  limited  op- 
portunities until  it  has  become  the  greatest  seaport 
on  the  continent  and,  along  with  Bremen,  is  the 
point  of  clearance  for  the  trade  of  Germany,  Aus- 
tria, and  Russia.  Its  chief  competitor  is  Antwerp. 
The  foreign  trade  of  the  city  is  colossal.  The 
harbor  and  the  docks  are  owTied  by  the  city  and 
are  equipped  ^ith  railway  tracks,  warehouses,  and 
wharves  to  facilitate  the  handlmg  of  vast  quantities 
of  freight  in  the  most  economic  and  speedy  way 
possible.  This  is  characteristic  of  German  harbors. 
The  docks  and  warehouses  and  machinery  for  trans- 
shipping freight  from  vessel  to  vessel  or  from  water 
to  land  are  all  mider  public  control  and  are  operated 
as  a  unit. 

But  the  thing  that  distinguishes  the  harbor  of 
Hamburg  is  its  free  port,  which  is  a  survival  of  the 
old  free  city.  Inside  the  main  harbor  is  a  free  har- 
bor into  which  ships  can  come,  load  and  unload, 
ship  and  transship  cargoes  wdthout  the  payment  of 
tariff  duties.  Customs  dues  are  only  paid  when 
goods  enter  the  country.  "When  Hamburg  became 
part  of  the  empire  it  abandoned  its  free-trade  pol- 
icy but  retained  a  free  harbor  to  protect  its  trade 
and  commerce.  Goods  may  be  brought  into  the  free 
port  and  reshipped  to  other  vessels  or  stored  in  ware- 
houses without  visitation  from  the  customs  authori- 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  EUROPEAN  CITIES        21 

ties.  Under  this  arrangement  vessels  from  the  Ori- 
ent and  the  Occident,  from  North  and  South  Amer- 
ica, from  England  and  Africa  can  transship  their 
cargoes  and  leave  for  other  parts  as  freely  as  in  an 
English  port.  The  free  harbor  is  a  clearing-house 
or  counter  through  and  across  which  individuals  and 
nations  do  their  bartering  on  a  large  scale. 

Experience  has  shown  that  commerce  will  travel 
many  miles  to  avoid  a  tariff  wall.  For  commerce 
hates  customs  barriers,  and  Germany  has  lured  the 
vessels  of  the  world  to  the  North  Sea  by  this  simple 
device  for  avoiding  the  disasters  which  everywhere 
follow  the  imposition  of  customs  taxes. 

In  the  heart  of  Hamburg  is  the  Alster,  which  con- 
sists of  two  lakes  which  form  the  recreational  cen- 
tre of  the  city.  Years  ago  the  Alster  was  low-lying 
marsh-land  of  little  value.  Some  of  the  land  be- 
longed to  the  city,  some  of  it  was  acquired  by  pur- 
chase. The  land  was  then  deepened  and  reclaimed 
as  a  water  park.  Surrounding  it  on  three  sides  is 
the  residential  part  of  the  city,  so  that  Hamburg 
somewhat  resembles  Geneva.  The  shores  are  laid 
out  in  parks  and  driveways  with  frequent  gardens. 
In  the  business  section  the  water-front  has  been  con- 
verted into  a  wide  esplanade  with  cafes  and  restau- 
rants. In  other  sections  are  public  bath-houses, 
while  the  Alster  itself  is  covered  with  innumerable 
motor-craft  and  sail-boats.  Small  power-boats  do 
a  thriving  business  to  the  many  caf^s  which  sur- 


22  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

round  the  lake,  where  the  population  gathers  in  the 
evenings  and  on  hoHdays.  Navigable  canals  run  in 
many  directions  upon  which  a  large  part  of  the 
local  traffic  is  carried  on.  With  the  exception  of 
Venice,  probably  no  city  in  the  world  possesses  as 
thoroughly  developed  and  as  intensively  used  sys- 
tem of  inland  water-ways  as  does  Hamburg. 

The  buildings  which  surround  the  Alster  are  of 
harmonious  architecture.  Their  height  and  distance 
from  the  roadways  are  fixed  by  the  city  in  order  that 
the  entire  territory  shall  resemble  a  parkway. 

The  Alster  is  probably  the  most  beautiful  piece  of 
inland  water  in  any  city  in  the  world.  Charles  River 
Basin,  in  Boston,  is  the  only  water-way  that  compares 
with  it  in  this  countr}^  It  is  almost  the  only  at- 
tempt made  by  our  cities  to  conserve  our  wonderful 
advantages  in  this  respect. 

Berlin,  like  Boston,  is  a  city  within  a  circle  of  cit- 
ies. Its  population  (1910)  was  2,064,153.  To  the 
casual  traveller  the  charm  of  Berlin  is  a  manufact- 
ured charm,  much  as  is  its  architecture,  its  parks, 
its  art.  It  is  pre-eminently  a  new  city  which  the 
present  Emperor  has  determined  should  vie  with 
Paris  in  its  splendor.  But  Unter  den  Linden  fails  to 
be  a  second  Champs  Elys^es.  It  does  not  compare 
with  the  Ring  Strasse  of  Vienna.  The  commanding 
group  of  buildings  about  the  Lustgarten,  with  the 
imperial  palaces,  opera-house,  university,  cathedral, 
and  museums,  is  imposing   in  its   splendor.    The 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  EUROPEAN  CITIES        23 

Sieges-allee  in  the  Tiergarten,  with  the  statues  of  the 
Brandenburg  rulers,  has  never  commanded  the  ad- 
miration of  the  Berliners,  nor  has  the  new  Reichstag 
building  at  one  of  its  ends  on  the  Konigsplatz. 

Berlin  is  distinguished  for  its  beautiful  suburbs, 
for  the  planning  projects  of  the  surrounding  towns, 
as  well  as  for  its  municipal  undertakings,  hospitals, 
sanatoriumS;  labor  bureaus,  and  care  of  the  poor.  Its 
administration  is  a  model  of  efficiency  and  far- 
sightedness. The  city  has  a  big  municipal  sense  and 
officials  seem  to  think  in  metropolitan  proportions. 
It  is,  and  for  a  generation  has  been,  consciously  built 
as  the  capital  of  the  empire.  Now  a  Greater  Ber- 
lin planning  project  is  being  undertaken,  for  which 
prizes  amounting  to  $40,000  have  been  offered,  and 
for  which  the  architects  and  town-planners  of  all  Ger- 
many competed.  Just  as  Paris  was  planned  by  Louis 
XIV  and  the  two  Napoleons,  so  Berlin  is  dreaming 
of  a  truly  cosmopolitan  city,  planned  from  centre  to 
circumference  as  a  capital  worthy  of  the  ambitions 
of  the  fatherland. 

The  system  of  sewage-disposal  is  one  of  the  great 
undertakings  of  the  city.  In  former  times  Berlin 
drained  its  sewage  into  the  Spree,  but  with  the  com- 
pletion of  a  new  water  supply  proper  drainage  was 
deemed  necessar}^,  not  only  for  the  health  of  the  city, 
but  as  a  means  of  keeping  pure  the  rivers  and  canals 
which  intersect  it.  After  prolonged  study  the  city 
adopted  a  system  of  natural  purification  by  using 


24  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

the  sewage  as  fertilizer  on  the  city-owned  farms 
bought  for  the  purpose.  To  the  north  and  south  of 
the  city  are  municipal  sewage-farms,  "vv^th  a  total  area 
of  40,000  acres,  purchased  as  agricultural  land  many 
years  ago.  The  city  is  divided  into  drainage  dis- 
tricts according  to  the  topography  of  the  land.  The 
sewage  from  various  districts  converges  at  centres 
from  which  it  is  pumped  to  the  sewage-farms  on 
the  different  sides  of  the  city.  Here  it  is  treated 
and  spread  out  over  the  land,  which,  by  this  proc- 
ess, has  been  converted  into  the  richest  sort  of  soil. 
When  acquired,  the  land  of  the  disposal  farms 
was  of  Httle  value  for  intensive  agriculture.  Nearly 
$4,000,000  was  spent  in  laying  out  the  property, 
in  trenching  and  preparing  it  for  cultivation,  and 
in  equipping  it  with  necessary'  improvements.  Six 
thousand  acres  are  leased  in  small  holdings  to  cul- 
tivators, while  the  remainder  is  cultivated  by  the 
city  itself.  The  total  cost  of  the  undertaking  ex- 
ceeded $30,000,000,  but  the  indebtedness  has  become 
little  more  than  nominal  through  the  increase  in  the 
value  of  the  land.  The  sewage-farms  alone  could  be 
sold  for  more  than  enough  to  Hquidate  the  total  city 
debt  for  all  purposes.  Aside  from  this,  they  are  a 
source  of  profit.  For  intensive  cultivation  upon  the 
enriched  soil  has  made  the  farms  enormously  pro- 
ductive. They  have  been  laid  out  in  orchards  and 
nurseries.  Big  crops  of  vegetables  are  grown  on  the 
market-gardens.    The  whole  territorj^  roimd  about 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  EUROPEAN  CITIES        25 

the  farms  is  clean  and  wholesome  and  apparently 
free  from  any  unhealthy  or  unpleasant  odors  such 
as  would  be  expected  from  the  surface  use  of  the 
sewage  of  a  city  of  2,000,000  people. 

One  returns  to  old  Germany  as  he  journeys  to 
the  south  through  Dresden,  Nuremberg,  and  Mu- 
nich. Especially  does  the  old  town  of  Rothenberg 
suggest  the  life  of  mediaeval  Germany.  By  official 
decree  the  city  has  been  protected  from  invasion  by 
railroads,  street  railways,  and  modem  innovations. 
The  old  walls,  the  narrow  streets,  and  overhanging 
structures  are  carefully  preserved,  as  is  the  institu- 
tional life  of  the  city.  Rothenberg  is  a  monument 
of  the  past,  as  carefully  preserved  as  are  the  art 
treasures  of  the  country's  museums. 

More  than  any  other  city  in  Europe,  unless  it  be 
Paris  or  Florence,  Dresden  makes  a  commercial  re- 
turn from  its  beauty.  It  is  a  residence  city  par  ex- 
cellence. There  is  a  permanent  English,  American, 
and  foreign  colony  that  numbers  many  thousands. 
Millions  are  brought  annually  to  the  city  by  trav- 
ellers and  permanent  residents.  With  all  its  beauty, 
Dresden  is  a  factory  town  with  a  great  variety  of 
industries.  It  has  grown  with  great  rapidity  and 
has  a  present  population  (1910)  of  546,882.  But  in- 
dustry has  not  been  permitted  to  disfigure  the  city; 
it  has  in  no  way  diminished  its  charm.  There  is  no 
dirt  or  smoke,  no  suggestion  of  the  towering  chim- 
neys of  ugly  factories,  nothing  of  the  pervasive  com- 


26  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

mercialism  of  the  British  and  American  city.  Indus- 
try is  subordinate,  no  matter  how  important  its 
claims  may  be.  Nor  is  there  much  obvious  poverty, 
although  poverty  of  course  exists. 

I  do  not  remember  ever  to  have  been  oppressed 
by  the  factory  in  any  town  in  Germany,  with  the 
possible  exception  of  Essen,  Barmen,  and  Elberfeld, 
although  I  spent  months  with  business  men  in  fac- 
tories and  industrial  districts.  While  Germany  has 
devoted  her  efforts  for  the  promotion  of  industry, 
she  has  not  permitted  it  to  become  a  nuisance  to 
the  community. 

Dresden  is  the  capital  of  Saxony,  one  of  the  king- 
doms of  the  German  Empire.  It  was  planned  as  a 
capital  city  long  before  city-planning  became  a  rec- 
ognized art.  The  palace  of  the  King  forms  the  cen- 
tre of  a  group  of  buildings,  including  the  cathedral, 
the  art  gallery,  and  the  new  town  hall.  The  Zwinger 
is  an  enclosed  garden  of  Renaissance  architecture 
connected  with  the  palace  group.  There  is  the  most 
perfect  harmony  in  the  architecture  of  these  build- 
ings, which  rise  high  above  the  Elbe,  still  navigable 
from  the  sea  at  Hamburg.  The  high  banks  are  ter- 
raced down  to  the  water's  edge  with  a  series  of  em- 
bankments. Below  is  a  busy  river  traffic;  at  inter- 
vals bridges  of  splendid  design  span  the  river,  while 
the  embankment  itself  is  a  promenade-way  which 
has  earned  for  itself  the  name  of  the  "Balcony  of 
Europe."    The  rulers  of  Saxony  were  lovers  of  the 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  EUROPEAN  CITIES        27 

fine  arts.  They  encouraged  the  opera,  built  palaces 
and  museums,  and  gathered  together  the  master- 
pieces of  the  world  which  draw  thousands  to  the 
city  each  year. 

Close  by  Dresden  is  the  garden-city  of  Hellerau, 
the  most  successful  garden-city  in  Germany.  It  is 
but  a  few  years  old  but  has  led  to  the  promotion  of 
a  score  of  similar  projects. 

Housing  experts  in  Germany,  as  in  Great  Britain, 
look  upon  the  garden-city  as  the  most  promising  of 
all  proposals  for  the  housing  of  the  working-classes. 
Dresden,  too,  has  just  completed  what  is  said  to  be 
the  most  complete  slaughter-house  in  the  world.  It 
cost  over  $4,000,000  and  is  almost  as  artistic  in  its 
architecture  as  a  world's  fair.  Here  all  meat  sold 
in  the  city  must  be  slaughtered  under  city  supervi- 
sion and  by  the  most  humane  methods  possible. 

In  1911  an  exposition  of  hygiene  was  held  in  Dres- 
den. It  was  first  suggested  by  a  private  individual 
but  was  financed  by  the  city  and  the  state.  It  was 
planned  on  an  ambitious  scale  and  was  designed  to 
teach  Germany  what  is  being  done  all  over  the  world 
for  the  prevention  of  disease  and  the  promotion  of 
health.  There  were  models  of  hospitals  and  sana- 
toriums;  there  were  exhibits  of  the  common  diseases 
so  portrayed  by  photographs  and  illuminated  models 
as  to  be  easily  imderstood  even  by  children.  There 
were  kinetoscopic  exhibits  of  class  gymnastics  and 
photographs  of  methods  for  improving  the  health 


28  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

of  school-children,  as  well  as  elaborate  displays  of 
the  value  of  food  products.  School  apparatus,  play- 
ground equipment,  all  that  Germany  is  doing  in  its 
fight  for  health,  was  presented  to  the  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  adults  and  children  who  came  to  view  it 
from  all  over  the  empire.  America  was  almost  the 
only  nation  not  represented,  while  the  meagre  ex- 
hibits of  other  countries  showed  by  comparison  the 
nation-wide  concern  of  Germany  for  the  health  of 
her  people. 

Munich,  the  capital  of  Bavaria,  has  a  charm  of  its 
own,  a  charm  for  many  possessed  by  no  other  city 
in  Europe.  It  boasts  of  its  gemuthlichkeit,  its  com- 
fort, of  the  universal  sense  of  community  living. 
The  city  has  been  embeUished  by  extravagant  rulers, 
who  bequeathed  a  heavy  indebtedness  to  Bavaria, 
but  left  a  heritage  of  great  beauty  as  well.  Yet 
Munich  is  a  manufacturing  city  of  593,053  people 
(1910),  while  its  administration  is  one  of  the  most 
enterprising  in  Germany.  Two  things  especially  im- 
press the  visitor  and  characterize  the  planning  of  the 
city.  One  is  the  number  of  splendid  civic  centres, 
each  with  a  group  of  public  buildings  and  each  rep- 
resenting a  function  of  the  city's  life.  There  is  the 
Hofgarten  in  front  of  the  palace,  to  which  the  people 
drift  on  summer  afternoons  to  listen  to  the  music  in 
the  open-air  cafes.  Here  whole  families  visit  with 
their  friends.    The  city's  art  treasures  are  housed  in 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  EUROPEAN  CITIES        29 

four  classic  structures  about  another  centre,  while 
the  university  buildings  form  another.  The  city 
hall,  a  splendid  piece  of  Gothic  architecture,  flanks 
Marienplatz,  which  was  the  old  market-place  of  the 
city.  This  is  the  business  centre  as  it  was  in  medi- 
aeval times.  The  towered  gates  about  the  city  hall 
have  been  preserved  and  the  environing  architecture 
has  been  made  to  conform  to  the  old.  Within  the 
past  few  years  a  new  centre  has  been  developed  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  river  about  the  municipal 
opera-house. 

Munich,  like  other  German  cities,  is  engaged  on  a 
comprehensive  planning  project  which  includes  the 
suburbs  for  many  miles  around.  Recently  a  com- 
petition was  held  which  was  participated  in  by 
engineers  and  architects.  The  competitive  plans 
provided  for  the  growth  of  half  a  century  at  least. 
One  of  the  features  of  the  proposals  is  the  establish- 
ment of  a  large  number  of  new  centres  in  the  sur- 
rounding suburbs,  about  which  the  municipal  build- 
ings, school-houses,  and  other  public  structures  will 
be  erected.  These  centres  will  tend  to  the  wider 
distribution  of  population  and  the  creation  of  local 
activities  and  life  in  each  suburb. 

No  other  city  in  Germany  has  as  many  splendid 
vistas  as  has  Munich.  This  is  the  second  feature 
which  distinguishes  its  planning.  Streets  terminate 
against  a  public  building,  terrace,  or  monument, 
many  of  which   have  no  other  value  than  orna- 


30  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

mentation.  Copies  of  the  triumphal  arches  of 
Rome  have  been  reproduced  across  streets,  while 
museums,  galleries,  and  other  structures  are  located 
at  conspicuous  spots,  usually  across  a  fine  avenue, 
and  designed  to  harmonize  with  their  surround- 
ings. 

The  city  has  recently  erected  a  splendid  opera- 
house,  to  repair  its  error  in  refusing  to  become  the 
patron  of  Wagner.  Musical  festivals  and  an  opera 
season  are  held  each  summer  to  which  thousands 
come  from  all  over  Europe.  A  large  subvention 
is  paid  to  the  theatre,  as  is  the  custom  in  many 
German  cities.  On  the  outskirts  of  the  city  a 
group  of  buildings  has  been  erected  as  a  permanent 
exposition  at  a  cost  of  $2,000,000,  exclusive  of  the 
cost  of  the  land.  About  the  exposition  halls  is  a 
great  garden  with  restaurants  and  cafes  which  is 
the  favorite  play-place  of  the  people.  Here  sym- 
phony and  military  band  concerts  are  given  daily. 
In  the  buildings  various  kinds  of  industrial,  elec- 
trical, and  art  exhibits  are  held  for  the  promotion 
of  efficiency  and  the  attraction  of  visitors.  Similar 
permanent  exposition  halls  are  being  built  by  other 
German  cities  in  competition  with  one  another  for 
business.  They  form  part  of  the  big- visioned  busi- 
ness and  educational  ideas  of  Germany.  They  stim- 
ulate industry  and  attract  travellers  and  have  a  direct 
commercial  value  to  the  city.  Along  with  Diissel- 
dorf,  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  and  Dresden,  Munich 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  EUROPEAN  CITIES        31 

is  one  of  the  best  examples  of  big-visioned  municipal 
life  in  Europe. 

Vienna  vies  with  Paris  in  its  claims  to  be  the  most 
splendid  city  in  the  world,  and  here,  as  in  Germany, 
beauty  is  the  result  of  the  most  scientific  and  intel- 
ligent planning. 

Prior  to  1850  Vienna  was  most  congested.  Its 
population  was  huddled  behind  the  massive  fortifi- 
cations which  completely  surrounded  the  town  and 
restrained  it  within  an  area  of  about  one  square  mile. 
Round  about  the  fortifications  was  a  broad  moat 
outside  of  which  were  military  and  parade  grounds 
which,  for  military  reasons,  had  never  been  built 
upon.  The  title  to  the  fortifications  and  parade 
grounds  was  in  dispute.  They  were  claimed  by  the 
Emperor,  the  nation,  and  the  city.  Finally,  in  1857, 
the  controversy  was  settled  by  the  Emperor  and  an 
order  was  issued  for  the  destruction  of  the  fortifica- 
tions and  the  comprehensive  planning  of  the  whole 
territory  about  the  old  city.  A  planning  commis- 
sion was  created  for  this  purpose  with  plenary  power 
to  control  the  entire  territory,  to  locate  new  build- 
ings, streets,  gardens,  and  open  spaces  and  lay  out 
the  surrounding  territory. 

No  large  city  in  Europe  was  in  greater  need  of  a 
building  programme,  for  population  had  grown  with 
great  rapidity  and  the  inner  town  was  congested  to 
its  limits.    The  suburbs  were  inaccessible  because 


32  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

of  inadequate  means  of  transit  and  the  inability  to 
use  the  undeveloped  territory  between  the  fortifi- 
cations and  the  surrounding  villages.  The  oppor- 
tunity for  the  building  of  a  splendid  city  was  com- 
mensurate with  the  needs,  while  the  ownership  of 
the  land  by  the  community  enabled  the  planning 
commissions  to  carry  through  the  project  at  rela- 
tively little  cost.  The  replanning  of  Paris  under 
Louis  Napoleon  had  necessitated  the  cutting  of  ar- 
terial boulevards  through  the  most  congested  part 
of  the  city  at  a  total  cost  of  $265,000,000.  Vienna 
was  saved  much  of  this  expense  by  reason  of  the 
public  ownership  of  the  land. 

For  several  years  architects  and  landscape  artists 
were  engaged  upon  plans  for  the  stadterweiterung. 
A  portion  of  the  area  demohshed  was  converted  into 
the  Ring  Strasse  which  follows  the  line  of  the  old 
fortifications  about  the  inner  town.  A  second  part 
w^as  laid  out  in  parks  and  gardens  closely  contigu- 
ous to  the  Ring  Strasse.  A  third  portion  was  dedi- 
cated as  sites  for  public  buildings,  while  a  fourth 
portion  was  set  aside  for  building  lots  which  were 
sold  to  private  builders  and  the  proceeds  used  for 
the  erection  of  many  of  the  public  structures  and  the 
laying  out  of  the  parkways  and  gardens.  The  entire 
arrangement  was  carried  out  systematically  as  a 
whole,  with  far-sighted  business  intelligence  and  with 
the  utmost  concern  for  the  harmony  of  the  project. 

The  Ring  Strasse  is  of  octagonal  form  and  is  bor- 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  EUROPEAN  CITIES        33 

dered  with  trees  and  promenade-ways.  At  intervals 
there  are  formal  gardens  and  parkways.  Four-fifths 
of  the  land  was  retained  for  public  uses,  for  parks 
and  as  sites  for  pubHc  structures.  Flanking  the 
Ring  Strasse  splendid  public  structures  were  erected 
which  include  the  royal  palaces,  the  Parliament 
building,  and  the  Rathaus.  The  University,  Royal 
Opera-House,  Cathedral,  Palace  of  Justice,  the  Ar- 
senal, and  the  Art  Museum  were  given  appropriate 
locations.  All  of  the  details  of  the  building  project 
were  laid  out  nearly  fifty  years  ago,  and  subsequent 
building  has  followed  the  lines  originally  projected. 
About  this  centre  the  official  and  recreative  life  of 
the  city  moves;  here  the  population  comes  to  prom- 
enade, to  listen  to  concerts,  to  sit  at  the  cafes  and 
restaurants.  There  is  so  much  space  between  the 
individual  buildings  that  the  effect  of  the  Ring 
Strasse  is  of  a  long,  continuous  garden.  Many  build- 
ings are  located  at  the  termini  of  streets  so  as  to 
secure  commanding  vistas. 

The  one-fifth  of  the  land  which  remained  unused 
for  public  purposes  was  laid  out  for  private  busi- 
ness and  residences.  Lots  were  sold  under  restric- 
tions as  to  the  kind  of  buildings  that  could  be  erected 
and  the  style  of  architecture  that  could  be  followed. 
The  total  sum  realized  from  the  sale  of  one-fifth  of 
the  land  was  $80,000,000,  which  repaid  a  large  part 
of  the  cost  of  the  undertaking  including  the  build- 
ings, for  the  city  secured  the  full  value  of  the  land 


34  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

by  holding  it  until  the  project  had  been  perfected. 
Purchasers  were  induced  to  erect  fine  buildings  by 
being  relieved  from  taxation  for  thirty  years  on  all 
buildings  erected  during  the  first  five  years,  and  for 
twenty-five  years  on  buildings  erected  in  the  next 
five  years.  By  these  means  Vienna  was  able  to  carry 
forward  a  colossal  planning  project  at  a  relatively 
low  cost,  and  to  control  its  development  in  the  inter- 
est of  the  whole  community.  It  made  Vienna  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  cities  in  the  world. 

The  beautification  of  Budapest,  the  capital  of 
Hungary,  was  inspired  by  Vienna.  Following  the 
revolution  of  1848,  through  which  Hungary  acquired 
a  quasi  independence,  the  Hungarians  turned  to  the 
building  of  a  capital  that  would  vie  with  Vienna  in 
its  splendor.  The  two  towns  of  Buda  and  Pest, 
which  occupied  opposite  sites  along  the  banks  of  the 
Danube,  were  consohdated  in  1873.  A  commission 
was  then  created  intrusted  with  the  planning  of  the 
city.  The  river  was  made  the  central  feature  of  the 
plan.  Great  stone  quays  were  erected  on  either  side 
extending  for  miles  up  and  down  the  river.  Below 
are  embankments  for  passenger  and  freight  traffic; 
a  little  higher  up  are  roadways  for  vehicular  traffic, 
while  upon  the  top  broad  promenades  are  carried 
up  and  down  the  river.  A  new  parhament  house 
was  erected,  near  which  are  the  National  Academy, 
the  city  hall,  the  custom-house,  and  other  build- 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  EUROPEAN  CITIES        35 

ings.  Farther  on  along  the  river  the  quay  becomes 
a  broad  boulevard  devoted  to  cafes  and  restaurants 
frequented  by  the  fashion  of  the  city.  On  the  op- 
posite side  and  rising  high  above  the  river  is  the 
Imperial  Palace,  up  to  which  great  stone  terraces 
rise,  while  the  river  itself  is  crossed  by  bridges  of 
monumental  design.  Margareta  Island,  which  lies 
in  the  middle  of  the  river,  is  the  city's  playground. 
It  is  laid  out  with  gardens  and  filled  with  restau- 
rants, bath-houses,  and  other  public  structures  which 
are  widely  used  by  the  pleasure-loving  Hungarians. 
The  buildings  of  Budapest  involved  colossal  expen- 
diture, but  the  city  has  been  made  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  in  the  world. 

There  are  many  other  cities  like  those  enumer- 
ated. Mannheim,  on  the  upper  Rhine,  is  the  best 
example  of  formal  city-planning  in  Germany.  It  has 
the  largest  river  harbor  of  any  city  in  Germany,  if 
not  in  the  world.  Diisseldorf  and  Frankfort-on-the- 
Main  are  described  in  detail  in  other  chapters.  Nu- 
remberg retains  its  old  mediaeval  castles,  its  walls, 
moats,  and  passageways,  its  cathedrals  and  market- 
place, much  as  they  were  in  the  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth centuries.  Leipsic  is  a  university  and  musical 
centre.  It  is  the  seat  of  the  imperial  court  of  ap- 
peals. The  town  hall  is  of  massive  architecture,  with 
a  great  dome  which  commands  the  whole  city. 

In  all  these  cities  one  is  impressed  with  the  solici- 


36  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

tude  for  things  that  our  cities  neglect  as  of  no  pub- 
lic concern.  There  are  countless  provisions  for  com- 
fort and  convenience.  There  is  universal  beauty 
and  harmony.  Ugliness  is  not  tolerated.  Business 
is  not  permitted  to  trespass  on  cleanliness.  Com- 
munities seem  to  possess  a  city  sense  that  has  not 
yet  arisen  in  America  and  that  does  not  exist  in 
Great  Britain  or  in  any  other  country  in  Europe. 
The  German  city  has  demonstrated  to  the  world 
that  the  city  need  not  be  the  despair  of  civilization. 
Rather  it  is  an  agency  of  great  possibilities  for  its  up- 
building. 


CHAPTER  III 
DUSSELDORF  AND  MUNICIPAL  SOCIALISM 

A  SHORT  ride  from  the  city  of  Cologne  is  Diissel- 
dorf,  the  "Garden-City"  of  Germany.  It  has  been 
officially  planned  as  were  the  garden-cities  of  Letch- 
worth  and  Hampstead,  as  are  the  proprietary  gar- 
den suburbs  of  Port  Sunlight  and  Bournville,  in  Eng- 
land. The  city  owns  more  things  and  does  more 
things  for  its  people  than  any  city  I  know.  Munic- 
ipal socialism  has  been  carried  far  beyond  the  sug- 
gestions of  the  most  radical  in  this  country,  and  it 
has  been  done  with  the  approval  of  all  classes.  Yet  the 
city  is  not  governed  by  socialists;  it  is  governed  by 
business  men — by  business  men  who  elect  the  council, 
choose  the  burgomaster  and  the  magistrat,  and  make 
the  public  opinion  which  approves  of  these  things. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  Diis- 
seldorf  was  a  small  town  with  but  20,000  inhabi- 
tants. For  centuries  it  was  a  Hauptstadt,  the  capi- 
tal residence  of  the  Princes  Palatine.  The  city  grew 
but  Httle  until  the  Franco-Prussian  War.  In  1850 
it  had  but  40,000  inhabitants.  By  1860  its  numbers 
had  grown  to  50,000,  while  in  1875  it  had  only  80,- 
695  people.    From  this  time  on,  however,  its  growth 

was  rapid.    In  1885  population  had  increased  to 

37 


38  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

116,190,  while  ten  years  later  it  was  175,985.  In 
1900  it  had  passed  the  200,000  mark,  and  in  1910 
the  population  had  risen  to  356,733.  The  area  of 
the  city  is  approximately  29,000  acres.  It  covers  a 
larger  territory  than  any  city  in  Germany. 

Diisseldorf  was  not  rich  in  the  many  palaces,  gar- 
dens, and  monuments  which  beautify  Munich,  Dres- 
den, and  Berlin.  There  were  no  traditions  of  com- 
mercial eminence  like  those  of  Frankfort,  Nuremberg, 
Hamburg,  and  Bremen.  It  had  its  old  quarter  about 
the  city  hall  and  the  market-place.  There  was  the 
old  gate  upon  the  river  and  a  moat  about  the  old 
town,  all  of  which  have  been  religiously  preserved. 
Diisseldorf  was  not  very  different  from  the  average 
American  city  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  It  was 
ambitious  for  business  and  population  just  as  are 
our  own  cities.  It  was  in  competition  with  Cologne, 
Duisburg,  Essen,  Barmen,  and  Elberfeld,  all  of  which 
were  struggling  for  eminence  in  this  busy  Rhine 
region  from  which  a  great  part  of  the  industrial 
wealth  of  Germany  has  come.  Diisseldorf  achieved 
eminence  by  consciously  building  a  city  which  lured 
business,  wealth,  and  travellers  to  it.  In  a  dozen 
years  it  has  taken  rank  beside  the  older  cities  in 
beauty  and  become  one  of  the  leading  manufact- 
uring centres  of  Germany  as  well. 

Late  in  the  nineties  Diisseldorf  cast  about  for  a 
burgomaster.  The  city  wanted  a  man  with  a  vision 
and  the  experience  necessary  to  carry  the  vision 


DUSSELDORF  AND  MUNICIPAL  SOCIALISM    39 

into  execution.  The  town  council  selected  Dr.  Wil- 
helm  Marx  for  the  post  from  the  competitors  who 
offered  themselves.  He  surrounded  himself  with  ten 
other  experts,  who  comprise  the  paid  members  of 
the  magistrat,  and  with  a  town  council  of  sixty  mem- 
bers proceeded  to  build  the  city  in  a  big-visioned 
way.  He  remained  as  burgomaster  for  twelve  years, 
and  during  his  administration  Diisseldorf  carried 
through  more  big  undertakings  than  any  city  I  know 
in  an  equal  length  of  time. 

The  city's  centre  is  the  Konigs  AUee,  a  broad 
parkway  which  runs  through  the  heart  of  the  city, 
and  terminates  at  one  end  in  the  business  district, 
and  at  the  other  in  the  Hofgarten.  It  is  a  miniature 
Champs  Elysees.  It  is  laid  out  in  formal  style  and 
is  one  of  the  most  finished  parkways  in  Europe.  It 
is  flanked  on  both  sides  by  splendid  buildings  of  har- 
monious architecture,  some  of  which  have  been  built 
under  plans  prepared  or  approved  by  the  city.  At 
one  end  of  the  parkway  is  a  hotel  owned  by  the 
trustees  of  the  municipal  art  exposition.  At  another 
corner  is  probably  the  most  artistic  department- 
store  building  in  Europe.  Its  walls  are  lined  with 
mosaics  and  adorned  with  mural  paintings.  Its  ar- 
chitecture is  of  the  massive  perpendicular  style 
which  has  been  developed  in  such  variety  in  recent 
years  in  Germany.  The  office  building  of  the  Ger- 
man steel  trust,  the  Stahlhof,  flanks  another  corner 
and  is  more  like  a  palace  than  a  business  edifice. 


40  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

Farther  on  is  a  group  of  government  provincial 
buildings  carefully  arranged  in  a  harmonious  setting 
about  the  parkway.  Through  the  centre  of  the 
Allee  runs  the  old  moat,  preserved,  as  is  every  bit 
of  water-way,  by  the  German  city.  At  frequent 
intervals  it  is  spanned  by  stone  bridges  ornamented 
with  fountains  and  symboUc  figures  of  commanding 
size.  On  one  side  of  the  Allee  are  cafes  and  shops, 
all  under  the  watchful  eye  of  the  city,  to  see  that 
they  do  not  disfigure  the  beauty  of  the  whole,  while 
the  opera-house,  art  gallery,  museum,  and  post- 
office  are  in  close  proximity. 

The  Konigs  Allee  is  fixed  as  one  of  the  city's  cen- 
tres, as  was  the  Forum  of  Rome.  There  can  be  no 
serious  change  in  realty  values;  there  is  no  excuse 
for  cheap  and  transitory  buildings.  For  the  city 
controls  its  own  development  and  establishes  busi- 
ness, governmental,  and  other  centres,  so  that  values 
cannot  materially  depreciate.  Nor  are  "tax-earn- 
ers," such  as  disfigure  the  average  American  city, 
permitted.  By  some  means  the  German  city  pre- 
vents the  irregular,  speculative  development  so  com- 
mon in  this  country.  To  this  municipal  centre  the 
municipal  tram-cars  come.  Metal  signs  indicate  the 
routes  and  destinations  of  the  cars.  The  Allee  is  the 
centre  of  the  city's  life,  with  provision  for  busi- 
ness, recreation,  and  refreshment.  To  this  parkway 
the  people  come  in  the  evenings  and  on  holidays  for 
rest  and  play. 


DtJSSELDORF   AND  MUNICIPAL  SOCIALISM    41 

The  banks  of  the  Rhine  at  Dusseldorf  were  low- 
Ijdng  marsh-land.  Retaining-walls  were  erected  for 
miles  along  the  river  front  within  which  land  was 
made  for  park  purposes.  A  promenade- way  extends 
along  the  top  of  the  embankment,  from  which  stone 
steps  and  driveways  lead  down  to  the  freight  and 
passenger-boat  landings  below.  There  is  an  en- 
closed harbor  for  pleasure-craft.  Along  the  river 
front  are  frequent  municipal  bath-houses,  while  the 
river  itself  is  crossed  by  a  splendid  bridge  whose 
approaches  are  ornamented  in  a  commanding  way. 
The  central  pier  carries  the  gigantic  figure  of  a  hon, 
symbolical  of  Dusseldorf.  Upon  the  made  land, 
fronting  on  the  river,  a  group  of  government  build- 
ings has  been  erected,  while  farther  along  is  the  per- 
manent art  exposition  building  in  which  annual  art 
and  industrial  exhibits  are  held.  Here  the  Diissel- 
dorf  school  of  art  is  encouraged.  Between  these 
buildings  and  the  river  front  are  gardens,  tennis- 
courts  and  playgrounds,  all  maintained  in  harmony 
with  the  whole. 

Toward  the  city,  from  the  art  exposition  building, 
the  embankment  narrows  into  an  esplanade  or  Rhine 
Promenade,  like  that  of  the  Seine  at  Paris  or  the 
Victoria  Embankment  of  London.  Steam  and  street 
railway  tracks  have  been  laid  below  the  upper  level 
for  handling  light  freight  from  the  river.  But  the 
commercial  uses  in  no  way  impair  the  beauty  of  the 
river  front  for  pleasure  and  recreation. 


42  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

Farther  along  is  the  new  harbor,  first  opened  by 
the  city  in  1896,  and  greatly  extended  in  1902  by 
the  reclaiming  of  the  foreshore  of  the  river.  The 
original  cost  of  the  harbor  was  $4,500,000.  In  area 
the  harbor  is  among  the  largest  on  the  Rhine.  Its 
turn  over  increased  300  per  cent,  in  the  first  ten  years 
after  its  building  and  now  amounts  to  1,100,000  tons 
per  year.  Under  the  Rhine  Navigation  act,  which 
was  passed  to  encourage  the  erection  of  harbors, 
cities  are  not  permitted  to  draw  profit  from  their 
harbor  dues,  but  the  indirect  effect  of  their  construc- 
tion has  been  to  stimulate  greatly  the  commerce  and 
industry  of  the  city. 

These  docks,  as  in  other  German  cities,  are  mar- 
vels of  construction.  The  most  modern  hydraulic 
and  electrical  machinery  has  been  installed,  which  is 
operated  in  connection  with  the  warehouses  and  state- 
owned  railways  to  minimize  the  cost  of  transship- 
ment of  freight.  There  are  harbors  for  lumber,  for 
petrolemn,  for  coal,  and  for  general  merchandise. 
The  grain  harbor  is  connected  with  elevators  into 
which  the  boats  are  unloaded  by  mechanical  means. 
Similar  terminal  facilities  are  provided  for  other 
kinds  of  freight.  The  whole  undertaking  is  operated 
in  harmonious  co-operation  \sdth  the  state-owTied 
railways.^    The  opposite  bank  of  the  Rhine  was  also 


^  For  a  description  of  the  type  of  inland  harbor  erected  along  the 
Rhine,  see  Chapter  IV,  Frankfort,  an  Experiment  Station  in  Business 
Administration. 


DUSSELDORF  AND  MUNICIPAL  SOCIALISM    43 

reclaimed.  It  was  low  land  covered  with  unsightly 
dwellings  which  were  torn  down  and  the  long,  shelv- 
ing shore  developed  into  a  recreation  park. 

All  these  provisions  for  commerce,  for  traffic,  for 
beauty  and  recreation  form  part  of  a  well-developed, 
officially  approved  plan  of  city  building.  Nothing  is 
left  to  chance  or  the  unregulated  license  of  private 
business  or  the  land  speculator.  The  city  has  been 
built  as  a  unit,  much  as  Gary,  Indiana,  was  planned 
by  the  Steel  Corporation.  Gary  was  planned  for  the 
making  of  iron  and  steel;  Diisseldorf  was  planned 
for  people. 

Shortly  after  my  arrival  I  called  upon  an  old  ac- 
quaintance who  was  a  retired  business  man.  His 
house  was  close  by  the  retail  business  district.  He 
had  lived  there  for  many  years  and  desired  to  end 
his  hfe  in  his  old  home.  He  told  me  that  a  few 
weeks  before  he  had  been  annoyed  by  noises  in  the 
adjoining  house.  He  notified  the  municipal  authori- 
ties, who  sent  an  inspector  to  learn  the  cause  of  the 
disturbance.  It  was  discovered  that  the  premises 
were  being  used  by  a  goldsmith  and  that  the  noises 
were  those  of  the  tapping  and  hammering  of  the  ar- 
tisans on  the  metals.  The  noise  was  not  loud  and 
would  hardly  be  considered  a  nuisance  in  this  coun- 
try, but  the  authorities  promptly  notified  the  gold- 
smith that  he  must  remove  his  shop  to  another  sec- 
tion of  the  city.  For  German  cities  make  special 
provision  for  factory  districts.    They  compel  shops 


44  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

to  locate  upon  the  railway  tracks,  in  the  suburbs, 
and  on  the  lee  side,  away  from  the  prevailing  winds, 
so  that  dirt  and  smoke  will  be  driven  away  from  the 
city.  Factories  can  locate  nowhere  else.  This  is  the 
common  practice  in  German  cities.  It  explains  in 
part  their  cleanliness  and  the  absence  of  that  ob- 
trusive industrialism  that  characterizes  the  cities  of 
America  and  England.  All  this  is  of  real  advantage 
to  the  factory-owners,  for  it  insures  them  the  best 
of  transportation  facilities  by  rail  and  water  as  well 
as  proximity  to  the  working-class  residence  districts. 
It  also  protects  residence  property  from  depreciation 
by  shops  and  factories. 

Every  part  of  the  city  has  been  planned  with  the 
same  foresight  and  care  as  the  railway  station,  the 
river  embankment,  and  the  Konigs  Allee.  Undevel- 
oped land,  far  out  in  the  suburbs,  has  been  laid  out 
in  detail  for  many  years  to  come.  The  maps  in  the 
city  hall  show  the  location  of  proposed  streets  and 
boulevards.  They  indicate  the  land  to  be  used  for 
parks,  open  spaces,  and  sites  for  public  buildings,  all 
selected  in  anticipation  of  the  city's  growth  and 
purchased  at  their  agricultural  value.  The  width, 
style,  and  character  of  streets  are  planned  with  ref- 
erence to  the  use  to  which  they  are  to  be  put. 

To  these  plans  the  owner  and  the  builder  must  con- 
form. They  are  not  permitted  to  destroy  the  har- 
mony of  the  whole  or  use  their  property  in  such  a 
way  as  to  injure  their  neighbors.    Beauty,  orderli- 


Building  Plan  of  Suburban  Allotment,  Dusseldorf. 

Showing  method  of  street  planning,  style  of  house  permitted,  and  generous 
allowance  for  open  spaces  and  boulevards.  Streets  are  from  60  to  135 
feet  -wide.  Black  building  dots  indicate  that  these  sites  are  reserved  for 
houses  for  one  or  two  families.  The  other  shadings  show  similar  restric- 
tions, some  sites  being  restricted  to  houses  for  one  or  two  families  and 
others  for  two  or  three  families,  as  well  as  indicating  the  type  of  building 
permitted.  A  large  amoiuit  of  space  is  required  to  be  left  vacant  in  front 
of  and  in  rear  of  buildings. 


DUSSELDORF  AND  MUNICIPAL  SOCIALISM    45 

ness,  and  comfort  are  the  first  consideration.  Sites 
for  school  buildings,  for  little  city  centres,  have  been 
purchased  in  advance  of  their  increase  in  value. 
Some  sections  of  the  surrounding  territory  are  re- 
served for  mills  and  factories.  Neighboring  prop- 
erty is  set  aside  for  workingmen's  cottages  or  apart- 
ments. In  other  sections  the  land  is  dedicated  to 
villas  and  more  expensive  residences. 

Everywhere,  even  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  the 
height  of  buildings  is  limited.  Rarely  in  any  Ger- 
man city  may  buildings  exceed  in  height  the  width  of 
the  street.  The  area  that  can  be  covered  by  build- 
ings is  also  determined  beforehand.  Houses  must 
be  so  located  that  there  will  be  a  certain  frontage 
devoted  to  gardens,  while  the  houses  themselves 
must  be  a  certain  distance  apart.  Thus  the  tene- 
ment and  the  slum  cannot  reappear.  Nor  can  the 
character  of  the  section  be  changed  without  the  as- 
sent of  the  city.  In  this  way  values  are  protected 
from  the  selfishness  of  a  single  individual  who  may 
destroy  the  value  of  a  whole  neighborhood  by  the 
erection  of  factories  or  buildings  which  are  a  nui- 
sance to  the  neighborhood. 

The  city  is  like  a  feudal  overlord.  It  says  in  ef- 
fect to  the  land-owner:  "Whatever  value  your  land 
enjoys  is  due  to  the  city.  We,  all  of  us,  have  created 
its  value.  You  in  turn  must  so  use  your  land  that 
it  will  not  injure  the  community  which  has  enriched 
you.    The  city  is  paramount.    Its  people  are  sov- 


46  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

ereign.  To  some  extent  you  must  subordinate  your 
private  rights  to  the  common  welfare  just  as  you  do 
your  personal  actions." 

In  America  a  man  may  do  what  he  wills  with  his 
land  and  the  courts  protect  him  in  his  actions.  He 
may  erect  a  dirty  factory  in  the  heart  of  the  resi- 
dence district.  He  may  put  up  a  twenty-story  sky- 
scraper and  destroy  the  light  of  his  neighbor.  He 
may  maintain  a  miserable  tax-earner  in  the  midst 
of  a  fine  business  district.  He  may  lay  out  mean 
and  narrow  streets  on  his  allotment,  may  pave  and 
sewer  them  as  he  wills,  or  use  the  territory  for  any- 
thing that  suits  his  fancy. 

There  is  no  such  license  in  the  German  city.  The 
city  is  first  in  the  eye  of  officials  and  citizens.  And 
the  streets  are  treated  with  almost  as  much  rever- 
ence as  a  great  public  building.  And  streets,  parks, 
and  open  spaces,  the  suburbs  and  the  water-fronts, 
the  fixing  of  building  zones  and  the  height  of  build- 
ings are  all  the  work  of  the  expert,  trained  to  the 
calling  of  town-planning  just  as  is  the  engineer  or 
the  architect. 

Radiating  out  from  the  business  centre  of  Diissel- 
dorf  are  broad,  parklike  thoroughfares  through  which 
the  life  of  the  city  moves.  They  are  arranged  like 
the  ribs  of  a  fan.  The  parkway  in  the  centre  is 
planted  with  trees,  flowers,  and  formal  gardens. 
There  are  benches  where  the  people  gather  in  the 
evening.     The  street-railway  tracks  are  placed  on 


DUSSELDORF  AND  MUNICIPAL  SOCIALISM     47 

either  side  of  a  parkway  and  are  sodded  to  keep 
down  the  diii;  and  noise.  On  either  side  of  the 
tracks  are  roads  for  vehicular  traffic.  These  radial 
avenues  are  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hun- 
dred feet  wide  and  are  so  arranged  that  one  can 
traverse  almost  any  section  of  the  town  along  a 
beautiful  shaded  roadway.  Round  about  the  city 
is  a  circular  boulevard  like  the  Ring  Strasse  of  the 
near-by  city  of  Cologne. 

Out  at  the  extremity  of  one  of  these  radial  thor- 
oughfares is  a  city  woods  which  covers  the  hills  on 
one  side  of  the  city.  They  have  been  left  in  their 
natural  condition,  and  on  a  holiday  or  Sunday  they 
suggest  fairy-land;  with  the  long,  straight-trunked 
trees,  clean  of  foliage  up  to  twenty  or  thirty  feet, 
and  with  pathways  running  up  and  down  the  hill- 
side filled  with  people. 

Such  municipal  forests  are  common  in  Germany, 
and  Switzerland.  They  are  not  parks  in  the  Amer- 
ican sense,  but  are  preserved  in  their  natural  state 
and  are  used  for  tramping,  for  picnics,  for  all  kinds 
of  recreation,  as  well  as  for  the  cultivation  and  sale 
of  timber.  In  many  cases  these  public  forests  have 
been  owned  for  centuries. 

Farther  on  is  the  Diisseldorf  race-track,  where 
officers  of  the  army  and  ambitious  business  men 
ride  their  blooded  horses  several  times  a  year.  To 
these  meets,  which  are  social  events  like  the  Ascot 
in  England,  the  wealth  of  the  neighborhood  gathers. 


48  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

The  races  are  orderly  and  well  conducted,  the  bet- 
ting being  under  government  supervision.  The  Ger- 
man horse-race  is  in  striking  contrast  with  that  of 
America  or  England.  It  partakes  of  the  spirit  of 
the  German  city,  which  seems  to  insist  that  any- 
thing that  is  worth  doing  should  be  done  in  the  best 
way  possible. 

While  the  development  of  Diisseldorf  seems  to 
have  been  adequately  provided  for,  for  a  generation 
to  come,  its  officials  are  not  content  with  what  has 
been  achieved.  The  growth  of  the  past  twenty  years 
suggests  the  possibility  of  metropolitan  proportions. 
To  anticipate  this  probable  growth,  the  city  invited 
town-planners  to  compete  for  a  still  more  compre- 
hensive project.  And  as  an  aid  to  the  competitors, 
topographical  surveys,  maps,  studies  of  land  and 
building  values,  statistics  of  traffic,  of  industry,  and 
the  density  of  population  were  prepared  by  the  city. 
A  prospectus  was  issued  which  announced  that  the 
successful  plan  must  provide  for  the  future  develop- 
ment of  steam,  water,  and  electric  traffic,  for  health 
and  for  beauty.  Existing  public  buildings  are  to  be 
retained  as  far  as  possible.  Suggestions  are  to  be 
made  for  the  extension  of  existing  streets  and  tram- 
way Hues  as  well  as  of  the  steam  railways.  Terri- 
tory for  industrial  uses  must  be  designated,  with  pro- 
vision for  workingmen's  dwellings  as  well  as  the 
traffic  arrangements  with  surrounding  cities. 

Residential  quarters,  with  plans  for  dwellings  for 


DUSSELDORF  .\ND  MUNICIPAL  SOCIALISM     49 

persons  of  large  means  as  well  as  the  location  and 
style  of  workingmen's  cottages  and  apartment  houses, 
are  to  be  included.  The  city  is  planning  a  new  city 
hall  which  is  to  form  part  of  the  competitive  designs. 
Provision  is  also  to  be  made  for  an  arts  and  crafts 
school  building,  a  museum,  concert  hall,  public  gar- 
den, and  a  city  theatre.  Sites  and  plans  for  market 
halls  were  requested  and  the  best  means  for  the 
bringing  in  of  food.  A  new  slaughter-house  is  to  be 
built.  Playgrounds,  parks,  and  open  spaces  were  to 
be  included  in  the  plan  as  well  as  sites  for  primary 
and  secondary  school  buildings.  Competitions  such 
as  these  are  common  in  Germany,  those  of  Berlin, 
Munich,  and  Diisseldorf  being  the  most  notable.^ 

The  officials  of  Diisseldorf  projected  their  imagi- 
nation far  into  the  future  in  calling  for  this  competi- 
tion, much  as  did  the  group  of  architects  who  laid 
out  the  ground-plan  for  the  World's  Fair  in  Chicago. 
The  day-to-day  policy  with  which  American  cities 
are  permitted  to  develop  has  been  superseded  by 
intelligent  prevision  for  the  future. 

Municipal  administration  is  a  trained  profession 
in  Germany,  and  Diisseldorf  has  recently  opened  a 
college  for  the  education  of  officials  in  city  adminis- 
tration and  town-planning.  The  curriculum  covers 
two  semesters  of  three  months  each,  at  the  end  of 

^  Prizes  were  awarded  to  five  competitors  and  a  description  of 
their  plans  with  maps  and  drawings  was  published  by  the  city, 
entitled,  Sonder-Katalog  fiir  die  Gruppe  Stddtebau  der  Stddteaus- 
slellung  zu  Diisseldorf,  1912. 


50  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

which  time  students  are  required  to  take  a  gradu- 
ating examination.  The  course  covers  such  topics 
as  municipal  law  and  administration,  the  labor  ques- 
tion, the  relief  of  the  poor,  sanitation,  and  the  proper 
organization  of  city  government.  The  teachers  are 
for  the  most  part  practical  men  and  administrators, 
university  professors  and  officials  connected  with  city 
departments.  The  college  is  open  to  those  who  have 
had  a  gymnasium  course  or  who  have  passed  an 
equivalent  examination.  A  similar  college  devoted 
to  town-planning  has  been  in  operation  in  Berlin  for 
a  number  of  years. 

Diisseldorf  engages  in  the  greatest  variety  of  busi- 
ness undertakings,  and  has  carried  municipal  social- 
ism further  than  any  city  in  Europe.  The  gas-works 
have  been  owned  for  many  years  and  involve  an  in- 
vestment of  $3,750,000.  In  1907  the  net  profits  from 
the  plant,  above  all  proper  charges,  were  $304,000. 
Electric-lighting  works  were  erected  in  1890.  In 
1907  they  supplied  2,300  consumers.  The  invest- 
ment in  the  plant  is  approximately  $3,000,000,  and 
the  net  profit  for  the  year  1907  amounted  to  $140,000. 
The  prices  charged  for  gas  and  electricity  are  lower 
than  in  most  German  cities.  The  water  plant  has 
been  owned  since  1870.  The  net  profit  in  1908,  after 
all  charges,  was  $218,000. 

The  street  railways  were  the  property  of  a  private 
company  up  to  1900,  when  they  were  acquired  by 
the  city.    The  year  before  the  city  took  possession 


DUSSELDORF  AND  MUNICIPAL  SOCIALISM     51 

the  railways  carried  10,000,000  passengers.  Eight 
years  later  the  number  had  increased  to  40,000,000. 
For  some  years  the  system  was  operated  at  a  loss, 
but  in  1907  it  turned  over  a  net  profit  of  $51,000. 
The  investment  in  the  plant  is  $2,500,000.  The 
tracks  are  laid  close  to  the  pavements  so  that  they 
offer  no  obstruction  to  traffic,  while  the  rails  are  so 
solidly  embedded  that  there  is  Httle  noise  or  rattle. 
Cars  are  clean  and  freshly  painted,  the  newer  ones 
being  models  of  beauty  and  comfort.  They  are  more 
like  the  private  car  of  a  street-railway  magnate  than 
a  car  for  ordinary  passengers.  The  rate  of  fare  is 
two  and  a  half  cents. 

I  do  not  pretend  to  know  all  of  the  enterprises  of 
this  thrifty  German  city.  It  carries  on  a  wine  busi- 
ness from  which  it  realizes  a  small  profit;  it  also 
operates  one  or  more  restaurants.  As  indicative  of 
the  way  German  cities  experiment  as  well  as  the 
freedom  they  enjoy,  Diisseldorf  appropriated  a  spe- 
cial fund  of  $3,750,000  some  years  ago  to  be  invested 
in  industrial  undertakings  of  a  profitable  nature  iden- 
tified with  the  city.  It  acquired  six-tenths  of  the 
shares  of  stock  in  the  Rhenish  Tramway  Company, 
which  operates  electric  lines  to  surrounding  cities 
and  carries  on  an  extensive  business  in  land  specu- 
lation. 

In  addition  the  city  itself  is  a  land  speculator  on 
a  large  scale,  its  realty  holdings  amounting  to  nearly 
2,500  acres.    Since  1900  a  special  fund  of  $5,750,000 


52  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

has  been  set  aside  with  which  to  buy  and  sell  real 
estate  just  as  does  a  private  operator.  The  purpose 
of  the  investment,  according  to  the  city's  official  dec- 
laration, is  "to  restrain  the  unnatural  augmentation 
of  the  price  of  land."  Through  its  large  land  hold- 
ings the  city  is  able  to  compete  with  private  specu- 
lators and  keep  down  the  price.  It  also  participates 
in  the  "unearned  increment"  which  the  growth  of 
the  city  creates. 

The  city  operates  a  municipal  mortgage  bank,  the 
first  of  its  kind  in  Prussia,  which  has  advanced  more 
than  $5,000,000  on  loans  for  the  building  of  working- 
men's  homes.  In  addition  the  council  has  erected 
twenty  houses  for  workingmen,  with  one  hundred 
and  forty-one  apartments,  as  well  as  fifty-one  sepa- 
rate houses  for  the  same  purpose.  A  home  for  un- 
married people  has  recently  been  added  partly  out 
of  municipal,  partly  out  of  private  funds  left  to  the 
city  for  that  purpose.  Here,  as  elsewhere  in  Ger- 
many, private  land  speculation  and  the  housing 
problem  are  controlled  in  part  by  municipal  com- 
petition. 

Diisseldorf  was  a  pioneer  in  a  comprehensive  hous- 
ing poHcy.  Ten  years  ago  it  realized  that  the  rapid 
growth  of  the  city  created  a  house  famine  which  pri- 
vate capital  was  unable  or  unwilling  to  satisfy.  Its 
officials  were  concerned  over  the  question,  and  in 
1902  a  report  was  published  by  Doctor  Meydenbauer 
in  which  it  was  stated: 


DUSSELDORF  AND  MUNICIPAL  SOCIALISM     53 

"The  fact  that  capitaHsts  do  not  lend  much  money 
on  mortgages  of  land  and  buildings  is  well  known. 
It  had  become  difficult  to  obtain  credit,  especially 
for  a  plot  of  land  which  had  not  yet  been  built  upon, 
in  excess  of  the  value  of  the  visible  security. 

"As  capital  could  not  be  obtained,  house  building 
had  come  to  a  standstill.  In  this  way  a  house- 
famine  was  created  here  as  in  other  towns,  the  miti- 
gation of  which  the  Town  Council  was  compelled  to 
regard  as  its  task.  The  way  was  obvious ;  the  need, 
created  by  the  disinclination  of  private  persons  to 
advance  capital,  must  be  supphed  by  the  credit  of 
the  town. 

"The  Town  Council  decided  at  a  meeting  on  the 
24th  April,  1900,  to  grant  mortgage  loans  on  land  in 
the  town  district  of  Diisseldorf,  and  to  appoint  a 
committee  to  manage  the  mortgage  business  in  con- 
formity with  instructions  given  by  the  Council.  A 
grant  of  $250,000  was  made  from  the  town  treasury 
for  the  beginning  of  the  reserve  fund  of  the  new  de- 
partment. For  the  purpose  of  obtaining  funds  the 
Council  resolved  to  raise  a  loan  of  $5,000,000  at  4 
per  cent,  interest  for  the  promotion  of  the  building 
of  dwelling-houses  in  the  town  district,  by  the  issue 
of  bonds — the  loan  to  be  issued  in  twenty  instal- 
ments of  $250,000  each,  according  to  the  amount 
granted  in  mortgage  loans,  and  to  be  repaid,  from 
the  sixth  year  after  the  issue  of  each  instalment,  by 
payments  of  half  of  one  per  cent,  on  the  capital  to 
a  sinking  fund,  in  addition  to  the  interest  laid  by. 
The  payment  would  therefore  last  57  years."  ^ 

Diisseldorf  aims  at  being  a  model  employer.  It 
treats  its  4,800  clerks  and  workmen  more  generously 

^  The  Improvement  of  Dwellings  and  Surroundings  of  the  People: 
The  Example  of  Germany,  T.  C.  Horsfall,  Manchester,  England, 
p.  85. 


54  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

than  do  the  private  corporations  and  goes  beyond 
the  requirements  provided  by  law  in  regard  to  sick- 
ness, accident,  and  old-age  insurance.  It  grants  all 
workmen  and  employees  a  retiring  allowance  as  well 
as  pensions  for  widows  and  orphans.  The  wages 
paid  rise  with  the  years  of  service,  while  the  con- 
ditions of  work  are  determined  by  municipal  regula- 
tions. 

In  addition  to  the  savings-bank  and  mortgage 
bank,  the  city  operates  a  pawn-shop  where  loans 
can  be  secured  on  easy  terms  and  at  relatively  low 
rates  of  interest.  A  commercial  court  and  trade 
court  decide  disputes  between  masters  and  employ- 
ees and  arbitrate  other  controversies  arising  out  of 
trade  matters.  These  courts  enjoy  the  confidence  of 
all  classes.  The  procedure  is  very  informal.  Law- 
yers are  not  encouraged  and  litigation  is  disposed  of 
quickly  and  at  an  insignificant  cost.  These  indus- 
trial courts  are  found  all  over  Europe  and  are  widely 
used  by  the  working-classes.  A  few  years  ago  a 
legal-aid  department,  where  advice  is  furnished  free, 
was  opened.  This,  too,  is  maintained  by  the  city. 
To  encourage  thrift,  the  city  conducts  a  municipal 
savings-bank. 

The  city  also  maintains  a  labor  exchange  or  em- 
plojmient  bureau  which  is  a  clearing-house  for  em- 
ployers and  employees.  During  the  winter  months 
emergency  work  is  furnished  to  men  out  of  employ- 
ment.    In    1909   the   city   offered   work   to    1,300 


DUSSELDORF  AND  MUNICIPAL  SOCIALISM     55 

unemployed  men.    This  is  a  not  uncommon  prac- 
tice among  German  cities. 

There  are  but  few  private  charities  in  Germany, 
almost  all  relief  work  being  administered  by  the  city 
directly.  This  is  the  almost  universal  policy,  it 
being  assumed  that  the  care  of  the  poor  is  a  public 
rather  than  a  private  function.  Aid  is  granted 
almost  exclusively  in  the  form  of  out-door  relief 
according  to  the  Elberfeld  system,  in-door  institu- 
tional relief  being  confined  to  the  sick,  the  infirm,  and 
the  homeless.  The  city  defends  this  policy  by  saying : 

"The  great  value  of  this  system  is  based  upon  its 
maintenance  of  family  life  and  the  economic  inde- 
pendence of  the  persons  assisted.  The  system  is 
administered  by  persons  of  both  sexes  (in  Dussel- 
dorf  by  about  500  persons  in  all),  who  give  their 
services  gratuitously,  and  to  each  of  whom  a  definite 
local  relief  district  is  allotted.  The  direction  is  in 
the  hands  of  a  poor-relief  board,  the  members  of 
which  are  all  unpaid.  The  chairman  is,  however,  an 
official,  a  sort  of  alderman  or  assistant  mayor  by 
profession,  who,  with  the  assistance  of  a  numerous 
body  of  clerks,  first  prepares  and  then  carries  out 
the  resolutions  of  the  board.  In  the  year  1907  an 
average  of  10,337  persons  per  day  were  relieved,  with 
a  total  expenditure  of  384,762  marks  ($96,190)  in  the 
year.  Further  171,930  marks  ($42,980)  were  dis- 
bursed for  single  and  special  cases  of  relief,  some- 
times in  supplies  instead  of  in  money,  in  which  sum 
is  also  included  the  cost  of  accommodating  destitute 
persons  in  the  six  municipal  almshouses  and  in  pro- 
viding for  the  homeless  in  the  town  asylum." 


56  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

Orphans  and  poor  children  are  known  as  munici- 
pal "foster  children"  and  are  under  the  constant 
care  of  professional  nurses  and  physicians. 

The  city  maintains  a  corps  of  eighteen  physicians 
who  give  gratuitous  service  to  needy  persons,  while 
numerous  hospitals,  infirmaries,  and  sanatoriums 
are  provided.  The  general  hospital  of  the  city  cost 
$1,750,000  aside  from  the  land.  It  is  equipped  with 
every  resource  of  medical  science,  and  comprises  a 
group  of  25  separate  buildings  with  914  beds.  In 
connection  with  the  hospital  is  an  academy  of  prac- 
tical medicine  as  well  as  a  society  for  the  rearing  of 
infants.  The  city  also  maintains  a  municipal  nursing 
establishment  for  convalescent  invalids  and  those 
who  do  not  require  hospital  treatment. 

The  expenditure  for  the  relief  of  the  poor  and  of 
orphans  increased  by  100  per  cent,  from  1897  to 
1907,  but  the  city  explains  the  increase  by  saying: 

"This  great  increase  is  no  sign  of  growing  poverty 
but  rather  of  the  increasing  eagerness  of  the  town 
administration  in  the  work  of  help  and  charity,  and 
the  increase  would  probably  have  been  still  greater 
had  not  the  German  workmen's  insurance  act  in- 
tervened at  the  same  time  to  reheve  the  town." 

Public  sanitation  and  hygiene  have  been  carried 
to  a  high  degree  of  perfection  by  German  cities  dur- 
ing the  past  twenty  years.  The  public  health  is  a 
matter  of  universal  concern.  The  city  says  of  its 
work  in  this  direction: 


DUSSELDORF  AND  MUNICIPAL  SOCIALISM     57 

"The  eagerness  in  the  work  (poor  rehef)  above 
referred  to  has  developed  still  more  remarkably  in 
matters  of  hygiene.  The  modern  German  city,  in 
accordance  with  the  social  progress  of  the  time,  rec- 
ognizes it  as  its  duty  to  change  its  activities  in  the 
sphere  of  hygienic  policing,  from  the  almost  exclu- 
sively curative  policy  to  one  that  is  in  a  still  higher 
degree  preventive. 

"The  town  has  established  a  special  institute  for 
testing  food  and  provisions.  It  maintains  a  slaugh- 
ter house  to  protect  the  community  from  objection- 
able meat.  The  use  of  the  abattoir  is  compulsory 
on  all  butchers,  and  no  meat  can  be  killed  in  the 
city  except  in  the  municipal  establishment.  A  new 
slaughter  house  was  erected  some  years  ago,  which, 
with  the  adjacent  cattle  yards,  cost  approximately 
$1,000,000.  All  the  meat  slaughtered  and  used  in 
the  city  is  inspected  by  municipal  veterinary  sur- 
geons." 

Constant  oversight  is  maintained  of  the  health  of 
the  children.  On  entering  school  the  child  is  exam- 
ined by  the  school  physician  to  ascertain  its  physical 
condition.  The  examination  is  usually  made  in  the 
presence  of  the  parents,  who  are  advised  as  to  the 
food  and  other  precautions  to  be  taken  in  the  care 
of  the  child.  The  school  buildings  are  equipped  with 
gymnasiums  and  are  surrounded  with  playgrounds 
which  are  provided  with  all  kinds  of  apparatus.  As 
one  travels  about  the  country  one  sees  classes  of 
school-children,  from  six  to  fifteen  years  of  age, 
tramping  through  the  country  with  their  teacher, 
studying  trees,  flowers,  and  nature.    Similar  classes 


58  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

are  seen  in  the  zoological  and  palm  gardens  as  well 
as  in  the  art  galleries  and  museums.  The  teaching 
of  swimming  is  compulsory,  and  during  the  summer 
months  the  public  baths  located  on  the  rivers  and 
water-ways  are  crowded  with  children  under  the  care 
of  a  swimming-master. 

Weak-minded  children  are  taught  in  separate 
classes  in  order  to  permit  of  individual  treatment. 
Special  courses  are  held  for  children  who  stutter, 
while  for  those  suffering  from  curvature  of  the  spine 
and  similar  diseases,  orthopedic  gymnastic  exercises 
have  been  developed.  Special  schools  are  main- 
tained in  the  country  for  subnormal  children  to 
which  they  are  sent  until  they  are  able  to  enter  the 
city  schools.  Poor  children  receive  a  hot  breakfast 
in  winter,  which  is  served  gratuitously,  while  hohday 
camps,  milk,  and  saline  bath  cures  are  provided  for 
those  in  need  of  rest  and  relaxation.  These  and 
many  other  precautionary  measures  are  taken  by  the 
school  and  health  authorities  of  Diisseldorf  to  con- 
serve the  child  and  give  it  every  possible  chance  to 
grow  up  a  healthy  and  efficient  member  of  the  com- 
munity. The  administration  of  Diisseldorf  is  not 
dissimilar  from  that  of  other  cities  in  these  respects. 
All  Germany  is  engaged  in  a  war  on  disease. 

The  new  school  buildings  erected  in  recent  years 
are  models  of  architectural  beauty.  They  contain 
splendid  assembly  halls.  The  laboratories  are  well 
equipped  for  the  teaching  of  physics,   chemistry, 


DUSSELDORF  AND  MUNICIPAL  SOCIALISM    59 

biology,  and  the  sciences.  In  all  of  these  respects  the 
school  administration  of  Diisseldorf  is  in  keeping 
with  the  standards  of  the  empire. 

School  attendance  is  compulsoiy  up  to  the  age  of 
sixteen  years.  The  elementary  schools  contained 
36,000  pupils  in  1908,  distributed  among  56  schools 
with  675  classes  and  about  700  teachers.  This  was 
about  50  pupils  to  the  class.  The  elementary 
school  curriculum  includes  courses  in  manual 
training  for  the  boys  and  various  kinds  of  domestic 
science  for  the  girls.  The  total  expenditure  for 
elementary  schools  in  1907  was  $500,000. 

The  work  of  the  elementary  school  is  supplemented 
by  from  two  to  three  years'  additional  work  in  the 
continuation  and  technical  schools,  held  mostly  in 
the  evening.  These  schools  are  designed  to  train 
the  children  in  trades,  in  technical  matters,  and  in 
domestic  science.  There  are  eight  such  continua- 
tion schools  in  the  city,  three  of  which  are  of  a  com- 
mercial character,  two  are  technical  schools,  one  is 
a  drawing-school  for  boys,  and  one  an  applied  art 
school  for  the  industrial  arts.  Provision  is  made  for 
higher  forms  of  art  expression  in  the  Royal  Fine  Arts 
Academy,  an  old  and  celebrated  institution  under 
public  control. 

Above  the  elementary  and  continuation  school  sys- 
tem are  a  number  of  high  schools  or  gymnasiums  in 
which  the  work  is  specialized  rather  than  general. 
There  is  a  high  school  for  the  training  of  governesses 
and  a  general  high  school  for  girls.    There  is  another 


60  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

school  for  those  who  wish  to  pursue  a  professional 
career^  as  well  as  a  lyceum  for  girls  who  desire  to  study 
domestic  and  household  economics;  such  as  the  rear- 
ing of  children,  house-keeping,  sanitation,  and  pub- 
lic work  along  the  lines  of  charity  administration. 
The  course  of  study  in  these  high  schools  is  adjusted 
to  vocational  needs.  The  high  schools  for  boys  con- 
sist of  two  g^Timasiums  which  prepare  for  the  uni- 
versity, as  well  as  g}^mnasiums  for  technical  training. 

The  total  cost  of  the  educational  system  of  Diis- 
seldorf  amounts  to  $1,000,000  a  year  exclusive  of 
the  expenses  of  administration.  This  was  equiva- 
lent to  a  per-capita  expenditure  of  four  dollars, 
which,  when  the  relative  salaries  and  cost  of  ad- 
ministration are  considered,  is  considerably  above  the 
per-capita  expenditure  of  the  average  American  city. 

The  per-capita  ex-penditure  of  several  American 
cities  of  comparable  size  to  Diisseldorf  is  as 
follows:  Milwaukee,  population  350,852,  $3.66  per 
capita;  San  Francisco,  population  402,836,  $4.26 
per  capita;  Buffalo,  population  405,714,  $3.96  per 
capita;  Detroit,  population  426,592,  $4.00  per 
capita;  Baltimore,  population  549,079,  $3.32  per 
capita;  Washington,  population  321,128,  $6.40  per 
capita.  The  average  expenditure  of  American  cities 
is  below  that  of  progressive  German  cities,  and  when 
the  purchasing  power  of  money  is  considered,  the  ex- 
penditure is  veiy  much  less.^ 

^  See  Study  of  Expenses  of  City  School  Systems,  United  States  Bu- 
reau of  Education,  Washington,  p.  90. 


DUSSELDORF  AND  MUNICIPAL  SOCIALISM    61 

The  school  system  of  Diisseldorf  is  supplemented 
by  a  number  of  other  agencies  which  have  a  distinct 
educational  value.  The  city  owns  and  maintains  a 
theatre  in  which  high-class  operas,  dramas,  and 
comedies  are  produced,  which  are  made  available  to 
the  poorer  classes  by  cheap  tickets  and  special  pro- 
ductions. During  the  summer  special  performances 
are  given  by  the  Rhenish  Goethe  Society.  The  city 
owns  a  splendid  concert  hall,  known  as  the  Ton- 
halle,  in  which  a  restaurant  and  wine-handling  busi- 
ness is  conducted.  Symphony  and  military  concerts 
are  given  here  several  times  a  week,  as  well  as  pro- 
ductions by  the  local  choral  society.  The  city  sup- 
ports a  symphony  orchestra  of  sixty-one  players, 
and  provides  a  musical  director  who  conducts  the 
orchestra  and  directs  the  lower  Rhine  musical 
festivals  which  are  held  every  three  years. 

Diisseldorf  was  the  first  city  in  Germany  to  erect 
a  public  reading-room  in  connection  with  its  town 
library.  Popular  lectures  and  classes  are  held  dur- 
ing the  winter  months  by  the  joint  action  of  the 
municipality  and  the  chamber  of  commerce,  which 
are  frequented  by  clerks  and  workingmen.  A  fine 
arts  gallery,  a  museum  of  natural  science  and  his- 
tory, and  a  zoological  garden  are  maintained,  the 
latter  being  a  favorite  recreation  centre  for  the  chil- 
dren. All  of  these  agencies  are  correlated  with  the  ed- 
ucational system.  Play  is  given  a  cultural  value.  It  is 
difficult  to  find  a  German  man  or  woman  who  has  not 


62  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

some  appreciation  of  musiC;  of  the  classical  dramatic 
productions,  and  a  critical  sense  in  these  matters. 

The  budget  of  Dii&seldorf  is  several  times  the 
budget  of  an  American  city  of  equal  size.  In  1907  it 
amounted  to  $28,250,000;  or  almost  $100  per  capita. 
This  is  nearly  five  times  the  per-capita  budget  of 
cities  like  Cleveland,  Pittsburgh,  Milwaukee,  or  Chi- 
cago. Of  the  total  budget,  $21,000,000  was  devoted 
to  the  operation  of  the  many  industrial  activities 
of  the  city;  $1,250,000  was  for  charges  against 
the  debt  account,  while  the  balance,  or  $6,000,000, 
was  expended  for  municipal  administration  proper. 
The  total  amount  collected  from  taxation  was  but 
$2,875,000,  or  about  $10  per  capita.  Of  the  latter 
sum  considerably  more  than  one-half  is  raised  by  the 
income  tax,  which  is  in  the  nature  of  a  surtax  on  the 
state  income  tax  and  is  calculated  at  a  certain  per- 
centage of  the  state  rate.  The  municipal  rate  varies 
greatly  in  different  cities,  the  rate  in  Diisseldorf  being 
140  per  cent.,  which  is  below  that  of  any  large  city 
in  Rhenish-Westphalia,  although  a  few  German  cities 
have  a  lower  rate,  that  of  Frankfort  being  but  90 
per  cent. 

In  recent  years  the  policy  has  been  adopted  of 
shifting  the  burden  of  taxation  from  incomes  and 
onto  property.  Increased  taxes  are  being  laid  on 
land  and  the  sales  of  real  estate.  In  1907  the  land 
tax  yielded  approximately  $500,000,  the  tax  on  the 
transfer  of  real  estate  $250,000,  or  together  about 
three-tenths  of  the  entire  municipal  taxes. 


DUSSELDORF  AND  MUNICIPAL  SOCIALISM    63 

The  indebtedness  of  Diisseldorf  is  also  of  extraor- 
dinary size.  In  1909  it  amounted  to  $29,000,000, 
almost  exactly  the  same  as  the  budget  of  the  city. 
This  has  been  incurred  in  the  purchase  or  construc- 
tion of  the  street  railways,  gas  and  electric  lighting 
enterprises,  in  the  purchase  of  land  and  participa- 
tion in  industrial  undertakings,  in  the  building  of 
schools,  streets,  and  other  municipal  activities.  The 
most  extraordinary  fact  about  the  indebtedness,  as 
stated  by  the  city,  is  that  "No  less  than  87.3  per 
cent,  of  the  habihty  is  for  industrial  undertakings, 
a  proportion  not  obtained  by  any  other  German 
town."  "Consequently,"  the  city  says,  "even  this 
considerable  increase  of  municipal  liabilities  is  noth- 
ing else  than  a  sign  and  an  attendant  phenomenon 
of  a  highly  prosperous  town,  the  administration  of 
which  is  constantly  pursuing  higher  aims." 

As  against  the  indebtedness  of  $29,000,000  the 
city  possesses  assets  in  excess  of  $40,000,000,  which 
not  only  earn  the  interest  charges  on  the  cost,  but 
turn  into  the  city  treasury  a  substantial  revenue  for 
the  relief  of  taxation.  Less  than  13  per  cent,  of  the 
indebtedness  is  for  undertakings  and  improvements 
of  a  non-profitable  kind. 

The  financial  operations  of  the  city  for  the  year 
1909  were  as  follows.  The  figures  are  in  marks,  ap- 
proximately twenty-four  cents.  The  receipts  from 
municipal  undertakings  indicate  the  extent  to  which 
municipal  socialism  has  been  carried  by  the  city. 


64 


EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 


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DUSSELDORF  AND  MUNICIPAL  SOCIALISM     65 


No. 


1 
2 
3 
4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 

24 


Name  or  Account 


B — Independent  Accounts 

Dusseldorf  gas-works 

Gerresheim  gas-works 

Electrical  works 

Water-works,  including  public 
baths 

Drainage 

Street  tramways 

Docks 

Slaughter-house 

Cattle-yards 

Endowments  and  other  funds . . 

Real-estate  funds 

Funds  for  participating  in  in- 
dustrial undertakings 

Allowances  and  billeting  (sold- 
iers)   

Mortgage  admin 

Savings-bank 

Reserve  savings-bank  fund 

Old-age  savings-bank 

Collections 

Pawning  establishment 

Observatory 

Town  concert  hall 

Wine  business  at  above 

Zoological  Gardens  —  endow- 
ment "  Scheidt-Keim  " 

Admin,  of  cemeteries 

Total  of  independent  accounts . . 

Total  of  town  treasury  ac- 
counts  

Total  of  budget  of  loan  ac- 
counts (extraordinary) .... 

Total  of  all  municipal  accounts 


Revenue 

Expenditure 

Mabks 

Marks 

4,900,000 

4,900,000 

127,000 

127,000 

2,525,000 

2,525,000 

1,990,000 

1,990,000 

1,932,000 

1,932,000 

6,279,883 

6,279,883 

1,568,000 

1,568,000 

690,500 

690,500 

121,000 

121,000 

371,676 

371,676 

4,625,000 

4,625,000 

4,615,000 

4,615,000 

46,200 

46,200 

5,074,000 

5,074,000 

47,240,000 

47,240,000 

376,000 

376,000 

12,500 

12,500 

338,000 

338,000 

1,164,000 

1,164,000 

3,930 

3,930 

248,500 

248,500 

284,000 

284,000 

288,000 

288,000 

348,100 

348,100 

85,168,289 

85,168,289 

23,900,000 

23,900,000 

5,500,000 

5,500,000 

114,568,289 

114,568,289 

66  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

In  twenty  years'  time  Diisseldorf  has  grown  from 
144,642  to  356,000  inhabitants.  It  is  now  sixth  of 
the  Prussian  cities  in  point  of  population  and  elev- 
enth in  all  Germany.  The  manufactures  of  the  city 
include  iron  and  steel  products  of  every  variety  and 
description.  It  is  the  principal  seat  of  German  tube 
manufacture.  Its  machine  works,  tool-shops,  artil- 
lery and  projectile  factories  have  a  world  renown. 
The  textile  industry  is  widely  developed,  as  is  the 
manufacture  of  glassware,  bottles,  china,  and  porce- 
lain. Upon  the  Rhine  are  great  lumber  yards  with 
which  are  allied  paper  mills  and  furniture  factories. 
Printing  and  lithographic  establishments,  applied  art 
work,  chemical  and  dyeing  industries  have  come  to 
the  city  in  great  numbers.  The  Society  for  the 
Promotion  of  the  Industrial  Interests  of  the  Rhine- 
land  and  Westphalia  chose  Diisseldorf  as  its  head- 
quarters in  preference  to  other  competing  cities,  as 
did  the  German  iron  and  steel  manufacturers.  The 
German  steel  trust  erected  a  monumental  building 
called  the  Stahlhof,  which  is  one  of  the  finest  mer- 
cantile buildings  in  Germany. 

Diisseldorf  is  typical  of  the  sort  of  city  that  is 
being  built  all  over  Germany.  A  kind  of  Bismarck- 
ian  state  socialism  animates  officials,  business  men, 
and  citizens,  who  have  united  on  a  bold  programme 
of  municipal  activities  with  the  greatest  willingness 
and  appreciation  of  the  benefits  that  are  to  accrue 
from  it.    Humanity,  business  acumen,  economy,  and 


1 


DiJSSELDORF  AND  MUNICIPAL  SOCIALISM    67 

honesty  are  not  uncommon  qualities  in  the  German 
official,  but  they  seem  to  have  been  more  highly  de- 
veloped in  Diisseldorf  than  in  any  other  city.  For 
Diisseldorf  cares  for  its  people  as  a  parent  does  for 
its  children.  It  educates  them  with  an  eye  to  the 
needs  of  the  child  as  well  as  of  the  community.  It 
watches  over  their  health  in  every  possible  way. 
They  are  protected  from  the  vicissitudes  of  hard 
times,  of  industrial  accident,  of  old  age  and  invalid- 
ity. There  is  provision  for  pleasure,  for  recreation, 
for  culture  for  young  and  old.  The  city  is  the  main 
thing.  This  has  not  been  done  by  socialists  but  by 
business  men,  by  hard-headed  business  men,  who  seem 
to  have  seen  that  this  was  the  best  sort  of  municipal 
investment  that  could  be  made.  And  it  is  because 
of  these  many  activities,  it  is  because  of  the  provi- 
sion for  a  happier  and  more  wholesome  urban  life, 
that  Diisseldorf  has  become  one  of  the  show  cities 
of  the  world  as  well  as  one  of  the  great  industrial 
centres  of  Germany  as  well. 


CHAPTER  IV 

FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN— AN  EXAMPLE  OF 
BUSINESS    ADMINISTRATION 

Frankfort-on-the-Main,  in  the  heart  of  south 
Germany,  not  far  from  Switzerland,  vies  with  Diis- 
seldorf  as  an  experiment  station  in  municipal  life. 
It,  too,  suggests  the  city  of  to-morrow  in  its  com- 
munal self-consciousness,  in  its  bigness  of  vision,  in 
its  fine  city  spirit.  For  centuries  Frankfort  was  a 
free  city  like  Hamburg,  Bremen,  and  Nuremberg. 
It  was  one  of  the  centres  of  the  rich  caravan  trade 
carried  on  between  the  East  and  the  West  by  way 
of  the  Danube  and  the  Rhine.  Through  commerce 
it  became  one  of  the  wealthiest  cities  of  Europe,  and 
to-day,  with  Amsterdam,  it  shares  the  reputation  of 
being  the  richest  city  per  capita  in  Europe,  if  not  in 
the  world. 

The  market-place,  under  the  shadow  of  the  Rat- 
haus,  is  still  the  city  centre  as  it  was  in  earlier  times. 
Round  about  it  are  many  beautiful  old  buildings, 
formerly  the  homes  of  the  merchant  guilds,  which 
have  been  preserved  unaltered  by  action  of  the  mu- 
nicipal authorities  in  the  rebuilding  operations  made 


68 


I 


FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN  69 

necessary  by  sanitary  and  commercial  needs.  In  the 
old  town  the  streets  are  still  narrow  and  irregular, 
the  overhanging  upper  stories  of  many  houses  being 
so  close  together  that  one  can  almost  reach  from 
window  to  window.  In  the  heart  of  this  district, 
fronting  upon  the  market-place,  is  the  Romer,  now 
the  city  hall.  Here  for  centuries  the  emperors  of 
the  Holy  Roman  Empire  were  chosen,  an  empire 
which  Voltaire  described  as  being  "  neither  holy,  nor 
Roman,  nor  an  empire."  To  the  Romer,  delegates 
came  from  the  loosely  federated  kingdoms,  principal- 
ities, and  bishoprics  to  choose  the  rulers  of  an  empire 
which  traced  its  lineage  from  Charlemagne,  an  em- 
pire which  persisted  for  generations  after  its  vitality 
had  passed  away  because  of  the  hold  it  had  upon 
the  imagination  and  religious  veneration  of  Europe. 
But  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  came  to  an  end  and 
was  succeeded  by  the  German  federation,  which  was 
later  fused  into  a  nation  by  the  wars  against  Aus- 
tria and  France  in  1866  and  1870.  And  because 
Frankfort  sympathized  with  Austria  in  the  former 
war,  the  city  lost  its  independence  as  a  Freistadt.  It 
became  a  part  of  Prussia.  But  Frankfort  still  clings 
to  its  traditions  of  greatness,  and  during  the  last 
quarter  of  a  century  a  modem  city  has  been  built 
around  the  old  town  that  surpasses  the  splendor  of 
its  mediaeval  days. 

The  Romer  is  a  series  of  irregular  buildings  al- 
most surrounded  by  the  old  houses  of  the  merchants 


70  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

and  guilds,  whose  fronts  are  still  ornamented  with 
paintings  and  preserved  by  the  city  in  their  medi- 
aeval beauty.  The  banquet-hall  of  the  Romer  has 
been  ornamented  with  mural  paintings  descriptive  of 
the  historical  traditions  of  the  empire.  The  Romer, 
now  the  Rathaus,  is  the  centre  of  the  city's  life,  as 
it  is  in  most  German  cities.  For  the  city  hall  is 
more  than  an  official  building;  it  is  a  municipal  pal- 
ace on  which  vast  sums  are  spent  to  make  it  worthy 
of  the  city's  life.  Here  banquets,  receptions,  and 
public  celebrations  are  held.  All  over  Germany  the 
city  hall  is  built  with  something  of  the  reverence  that 
animated  the  cathedral  builders  in  earlier  centuries. 
It  is  the  most  commanding  structure  in  the  city. 
Munich,  a  city  of  but  593,000  people,  has  recently 
erected  a  Gothic  city  hall  which  cost  S4,500,000  ex- 
clusive of  the  cost  of  the  land.  The  new  city  halls 
of  Leipsic  and  Dresden  are  of  splendid  proportions 
and  are  built  in  the  massive  style  which  charac- 
terizes much  of  the  new  architecture  of  Germany. 
Cities  of  a  quarter  of  a  million  inhabitants  spend 
more  generously  on  their  town  halls  than  do  cities  of 
three  times  that  population  in  this  country. 

Like  Diisseldorf,  Frankfort  has  grown  with  great 
rapidity.  It  had  but  80,000  people  in  1871.  Ten 
years  later  its  population  was  137,000.  By  1891  its 
numbers  had  grown  to  179,850,  while  by  the  census 
of  1910  its  population  was  417,706.  The  rapid  ex- 
pansion of  the  city  made  it  necessary  to  open  up  the 


Frankfort.     Municipal  Theatre. 


Frankfort.    Komerberg  and  the  Old  Market  Place. 


i 


FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN  71 

old  parts  of  the  town.  New  streets  had  to  be  cut 
through  and  old  streets  widened.  Frankfort  might 
have  destroyed  its  charm  had  the  city  thought  only 
in  short-sighted  terms  of  economy.  But  Frankfort 
replanned  its  business  centre  so  as  to  preserve  the 
narrow,  irregular  streets  within  the  old  town.  It 
left  them  much  as  they  were  in  the  past.  It  pre- 
served the  old  houses,  the  architecture,  and  the  street 
adornments  as  monuments  of  the  city's  earlier 
splendor. 

Frankfort  is  not  as  large  as  Cleveland  or  Detroit, 
yet  it  has  a  $10,000,000  railway  station,  begun  thirty 
years  ago  when  the  population  was  less  than  200,000. 
This  but  typifies  the  attitude  of  mind  of  citizen  and 
official,  for  Frankfort  spends  in  what  we  should  con- 
sider an  extravagant  way  and  for  what  our  cities 
would  consider  useless  ends.  The  mass  of  the  people 
are  poor,  while  the  income,  business,  and  real-estate 
taxes  are  so  levied  that  the  burden  is  consciously 
felt  by  almost  all  classes.  Despite  this  fact  the  city 
borrows  and  spends  with  the  vision  of  a  railroad 
president  who  abolishes  curves,  makes  cuts,  and 
builds  his  road  with  an  eye  to  economy  and  the 
elimination  of  waste.  More  than  $50,000,000  has 
been  invested  in  the  last  few  years  in  the  purchase 
of  real  estate  alone.  The  city  owns  one-half  of  the 
total  area  within  its  boundaries,  or  12,397  acres. 
The  purchase  of  land  is  encouraged  by  the  state, 
which  not  only  advises  the  towns  to  hold  on  to  every 


72  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

bit  of  public  land  but  to  add  to  their  possessions. 
Outside  of  its  limits  Frankfort  owns  3;800  acres  more, 
making  its  total  landed  possessions  16,650  acres, 
which  is  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  total  area  of  Cleveland 
or  Pittsburgh,  whose  areas  in  1909  were  26,348  acres 
and  26,510  acres  respectively.  One-half  of  this  great 
estate  is  the  Stadtwald,  forest  lands  acquired  from 
the  German  emperors  at  the  end  of  the  fourteenth 
century  and  now  used  for  the  raising  of  timber  for 
market. 

Like  Cologne,  Frankfort  acquired  the  fortifications 
about  the  old  town  and  laid  them  out  in  a  splendid 
Ring  Strasse.  Part  of  the  land  was  sold  to  private 
persons,  but  on  condition  that  only  one  building 
should  be  erected  on  each  site,  while  the  remain- 
der should  be  used  as  a  garden.  A  beautiful  opera- 
house  as  well  as  many  splendid  monuments  and 
public  structures  have  been  erected  upon  the  Ring 
Strasse. 

Everything  about  Frankfort  suggests  a  city  of  a 
million  inhabitants  rather  than  one  of  half  that  num- 
ber, and  the  business  men  justify  the  big  undertak- 
ings of  the  city  much  as  they  do  their  own  private 
ventures.  It  is  bad  policy,  they  say,  not  to  go  into 
debt  when  the  indebtedness  is  for  something  which 
pays  its  way  or  is  of  service  to  the  people.  There 
is  no  talk  of  bankruptcy  or  of  heavy  taxes  driving 
away  business.  Yet  the  total  city  indebtedness  is 
$48,982,000,  or  $108  per  capita.    This  is  more  than 


FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN  73 

twice  the  average  indebtedness  of  the  American  city 
of  the  same  size.  The  assets,  however,  are  estimated 
at  $91,500,000. 

And  because,  rather  than  in  spite  of  its  indebted- 
ness and  the  many  things  the  city  owns,  the  income- 
tax  rate  is  the  lowest  of  any  large  city  in  Germany, 
being  but  90  per  cent,  of  the  state  rate,  or  50  per 
cent,  less  than  many  cities.  The  business  man  justi- 
fies municipal  socialism  by  reference  to  the  low  tax 
rate  and  the  rapid  growth  of  the  city.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  he  accepts  the  idea  of  municipal  trading  as 
the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world.  He  does  not 
question  it;  finds  it  even  difficult  to  discuss  it.  He 
feels  about  the  street  railways,  electric  lighting,  and 
other  undertakings  much  as  he  feels  about  the  plumb- 
ing and  elevators  of  his  building.  They  are  part  of 
the  vital  organs  of  the  city,  like  the  sewers  and  the 
streets.  His  mind  is  not  shocked  at  proposals  for 
new  undertakings  or  a  big  bond  issue  that  would 
make  officials  and  business  men  in  America  stand 
aghast.  He  sees  the  city  as  a  big  collective  enter- 
prise, with  assets  which  comprise  all  the  wealth  and 
property  of  all  the  people,  and  with  a  definite  mis- 
sion to  perform.  And  Frankfort  has  become  a  great 
city  largely  through  the  action  of  the  city  itself.  It 
is  one  of  the  best  examples  in  Germany  of  the  com- 
mercial value  of  conscious  city  building  with  an  eye 
to  the  encouragement  of  business  and  the  conven- 
ience of  the  people. 


74  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

The  city  owns  the  street  railways,  which  were  taken 
over  from  a  private  company  in  1898.  It  also  owns 
its  water  and  electric-lighting  undertakings.  The 
gas  plant  is  in  private  hands.  Like  other  German 
cities,  Frankfort  is  planned  far  into  the  surrounding 
country,  so  that  succeeding  generations  will  not  suf- 
fer from  bad  housing  or  unsanitary  slums.  It  was 
Frankfort  that  first  developed  the  Wertzuwachssteuer, 
or  "unearned  increment"  tax,  levied  on  increasing 
land  values,  which  since  1904  has  spread  to  nearly 
every  city  in  Germany  and  in  1911  was  adopted  as 
an  imperial  tax  and  applied  to  land  values  in  all  the 
cities  and  towns  of  the  empire. 

Frankfort  was  fortunate  in  having  an  Oberburgo- 
master,  Doctor  Adickes,  who  dreamed  in  big-city 
terms.  He  thought  of' his  city  as  did  his  forebears 
in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries.  He  has  been 
mayor  since  1891,  and  during  that  time  has  promoted 
the  greatest  number  of  city  undertakings.  He  saw 
that  the  city  that  served  its  people  most  would  be 
served  by  them  in  turn;  saw  that  industry  and  com- 
merce would  follow  advantages  in  transportation  and 
distribution.  He  saw  these  things  related  to  the  life 
of  the  city,  saw  the  role  that  conscious  city  building 
would  play  in  the  future,  saw  also  that  the  city  was 
a  great  power  for  social  service,  greater  than  either 
the  state  or  the  nation.  And  seeing  these  things, 
he  and  the  business  men  associated  with  him  pro- 
ceeded to  build  a  city  for  business,  for  all  business 


FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN  75 

rather  than  for  a  few  businesses;  for  all  the  people 
rather  than  for  a  few  people.  He  realized  that  the 
city  must  think  in  big  terms  if  it  would  protect 
all  classes  from  the  privileges  and  abuses  of  some 
classes,  and  that  the  rights  of  the  community  must 
be  superior  to  the  rights  of  the  individual.^ 

Frankfort  lies  some  distance  from  the  Rhine,  on 
the  river  Main,  which  is  not  a  natural  water-way 
for  river  traffic.  This  precluded  the  city  from  par- 
ticipating in  the  advantages  of  other  cities  that  had 
water  connection  with  the  sea.  Its  industrial  prog- 
ress suffered  in  competition  with  Cologne,  Diissel- 
dorf,  and  Mannheim.  In  order  to  overcome  this 
disadvantage  the  city  undertook  a  colossal  project 
which  in  the  bigness  of  its  treatment,  though  not  in 
its  cost,  equals  the  Manchester  ship  canal.  It  in- 
volved dredging  a  navigable  channel  in  the  river 
Main  in  order  to  make  it  accessible  to  Rhine  boats. 
Artificial  weirs  and  locks  had  to  be  constructed  to 
retain  the  water.  This  work  reached  its  completion 
in  1897,  when  a  harbor  was  opened  in  the  west  end 
of  the  city.  This  made  Frankfort  the  terminus  of 
Rhine  river  traffic  for  this  region.  The  deepening 
of  the  river  and  the  building  of  the  first  harbor  im- 
mediately developed  a  large  water  traffic,  which  by 
1905  had  increased  to  1,700,000  tons  per  annum,  or 

^  The  attitude  of  the  German  city  toward  social  and  industrial 
questions  and  the  proper  Hmits  of  its  activities  are  set  forth  in  a 
pamphlet  by  Doctor  Adickes,  entitled  Die  Sozialen  Aufgaben  der 
Deutschen  Staedte,  Dresden. 


76  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

twelve  times  the  tonnage  of  1886,  before  the  water- 
way was  opened. 

The  first  harbor  soon  became  inadequate  and  new 
provision  had  to  be  made  to  meet  the  growing  busi- 
ness of  the  city.  There  was  no  available  land  about 
the  original  harbor,  and  the  city  was  compelled  to 
go  still  farther  to  the  east,  where  it  could  plan  its 
development  with  a  free  hand.  Here  it  worked  out 
a  harbor,  transportation,  industrial  development,  and 
housing  programme  of  the  most  comprehensive  sort. 
The  city  acquired  an  area  of  1,180  acres  of  agricult- 
ural land  at  a  relatively  low  price  and  in  anticipa- 
tion of  any  public  discussion  of  the  project.  Engi- 
neers were  then  employed  to  plan  the  whole  territory 
for  the  various  uses  to  which  it  was  to  be  put,  and 
350  acres  were  deducted  for  streets,  railways,  termi- 
nals, and  embankments  along  the  water  basins.  A 
number  of  harbors  were  dredged  into  the  land  and 
connected  with  the  river,  which  were  lined  with  con- 
crete. 110  acres  more  were  used  for  the  harbors 
proper.  After  these  deductions  had  been  made,  720 
acres  remained  for  development  purposes,  which  were 
laid  out  for  various  factory  uses,  all  so  connected  that 
the  railways,  docks,  and  warehouses  could  be  oper- 
ated in  the  most  economical  manner  possible.  150 
acres  were  assigned  to  miscellaneous  traffic,  of  which 
37  acres  were  dedicated  to  coal  traffic.  The  570 
acres  remaining  were  set  aside  for  manufacturing 
sites,  of  which  135  acres  were  reserved  for  large 


FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN  77 

water-front  industries  and  435  acres  were  kept  for 
inland  factory  locations.  The  navigable  shore  line 
of  the  various  harbors  is  over  9  miles  in  length  and 
is  connected  up  with  35  miles  of  railway  track  and 
sidings  and  30  miles  of  streets. 

Frankfort,  it  must  be  remembered,  has  a  popula- 
tion of  only  417,000,  and  the  magnitude  of  this 
undertaking  is  seen  by  comparing  its  9  miles  of 
frontage  in  this  new  harbor  alone  with  the  few  thou- 
sand feet  owned  by  such  cities  as  Cleveland  and  De- 
troit and  the  inadequate  provision  of  the  latter  cities 
for  handling  the  colossal  traffic  of  the  Great  Lakes. 
The  harbor  accommodations  of  this  small  town  are 
comparable  to  those  of  a  great  seaport  city  like  New 
York  or  Boston;  they  are  comparable  to  those  of 
Liverpool  or  Manchester  in  the  provision  made  for 
all  kinds  of  industry  and  traffic.  Even  the  cost 
seems  colossal  for  a  community  of  this  size,  for  the 
total  sum  involved  is  approximately  $18,000,000,  a 
sima  in  excess  of  the  total  indebtedness  of  many 
American  cities  of  the  size  of  Frankfort. 

Herein  is  one  of  the  explanations  of  Germany's 
wonderful  industrial  advance.  It  is  to  be  found  in 
the  intelligent  control  of  the  means  of  transportation 
by  water  and  rail.  They  are  treated  as  matters  of 
the  utmost  public  importance  and  are  not  left  in 
private  hands.  Docks  and  harbors  are  owned  by 
the  cities;  they  are  constructed  in  close  connection 
with  the  railways  and  industrial  sections.     Canals 


78  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

intersect  the  country  from  one  end  to  the  other  and 
are  used  for  the  hauling  of  heavy  freight.  Water-ways 
are  planned  as  an  integral  part  of  the  transportation 
system  and  are  used  as  an  aid  to  the  upbuilding  of 
industry.  The  harbor  of  Frankfort,  like  that  of  other 
Rhine  cities,  is  designed  with  the  completeness  of  a 
modern  steel  plant  with  every  possible  equipment 
for  the  speedy  and  cheap  handhng  of  freight.  Upon 
the  crown  of  the  embankments  which  surround  the 
water  basin  are  steam  railway  tracks  connected  with 
a  great  railway  terminal  not  far  away.  Upon  these 
tracks  hydraulic  and  electrical  machines  move  about 
and  quickly  load  and  unload  vessels  or  freight  cars, 
and  transfer  their  cargoes  to  land  or  water  or  into 
one  of  the  many  warehouses  along  the  embankment. 
Each  harbor  basin  is  dedicated  to  a  particular  kind 
of  traffic,  either  general  merchandise,  coal,  lumber, 
or  grain. 

In  connection  with  the  harbor  a  factory  district 
was  planned  for  new  industries,  and  570  acres  of  land 
were  dedicated  to  such  uses.  The  harbor-front  lo- 
cations were  laid  out  so  that  heavy  freight  could  be 
landed  directly  from  the  boat  to  the  factory.  In- 
side of  the  harbor  line  are  less  expensive  locations 
for  smaller  plants,  all  of  which  are  connected  with 
the  river  and  the  railway  by  sidings  which  bring 
them  into  close  connections  with  the  best  of  freight 
facilities.  Every  possible  provision  has  been  made 
to  promote  competition  and  make  it  easy  for  facto- 


FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN  79 

ries  to  find  a  suitable  location  at  a  low  cost.  This 
is  one  of  the  ways  in  which  Germany  curbs  monop- 
oly. It  curbs  it  through  keeping  the  transportation 
avenues  open  to  all  comers  on  equal  terms  and  by 
providing  cheap  sites  and  facilities  for  the  upbuild- 
ing of  new  industries. 

It  was  obvious  that  provision  had  to  be  made  for 
workmen  for  this  new  district,  so  the  city  included 
a  housing  project  as  part  of  the  programme.  The 
city  owns  the  street  railways,  and  laid  tracks  out 
into  the  suburbs  as  well  as  rapid  transit  lines  to 
distant  villages.  It  was  recognized,  however,  that 
many  of  the  working-people  prefer  to  live  in  the 
city  because  of  the  distractions  and  amusements 
which  it  offers,  so  an  area  of  157  acres  was  acquired 
close  by  the  industrial  section  for  the  building  of 
workmen's  houses.  Upon  a  portion  of  this  land 
houses  are  being  built  by  the  city,  of  which  550  have 
already  been  erected.  In  the  immediate  neighbor- 
hood a  large  park  was  laid  out  with  recreation 
grounds,  swimming  and  bathing  establishments,  play- 
grounds and  foot-ball  fields.  Not  far  away  is  one  of 
the  city  forests.  Together  with  the  private  property 
developed,  the  harbor  and  industrial  undertaking 
increased  the  area  of  the  city  by  50  per  cent.,  and 
when  it  is  completed,  provision  will  have  been  made 
for  every  need  of  this  new  community  on  what  a 
few  years  ago  was  cheap  agricultural  land  of  Httle 
value. 


80  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

And  the  whole  undertaking  is  being  paid  for  in  a 
manner  quite  usual  in  Germany.  Officials  and  the 
public  generally  seem  to  resent  the  idea  of  enriching 
private  speculators  by  the  community's  activities. 
So  the  city  is  financing  the  project  by  retaining  the 
unearned  increment  which  the  development  created. 
Sites  are  being  sold  or  leased  on  a  basis  which  is  ex- 
pected to  reimburse  the  city  for  the  greater  part,  if 
not  the  whole  cost,  of  the  undertaking  and  leave  the 
harbor  and  all  the  improvements  in  the  possession 
of  the  city  without  any  indebtedness  whatever.  Lo- 
cations on  the  harbor  proper  are  let  to  individuals 
on  short  terms  of  from  ten  to  thirty  years,  while  the 
factory  sites  are  sold  outright  and  on  easy  terms  to 
encourage  industry.  An  instalment  of  10  per  cent, 
only  is  required  on  the  purchase  price,  the  balance 
being  payable  in  ten  years'  time.  And  in  order  that 
the  land  may  be  used  for  industry  rather  than  spec- 
ulation, the  city  provides  in  the  contract  of  sale  that 
the  site  must  be  used  for  the  purpose  agreed  upon, 
while  the  buyer  is  required  to  improve  the  property 
within  a  certain  period  of  time,  previous  to  which 
the  land  must  not  be  resold.^ 

Considerable  difficulty  was  experienced  by  Frank- 
fort in  the  planning  of  the  suburbs  by  reason  of  the 
fact  that  the  land  was  owned  by  a  large  number  of 


^  The  facts  relating  to  the  above  industrial  undertaking  and  har- 
bor project  are  taken  from  an  official  report  of  the  city  by  H. 
Uhlfelder. 


FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN  81 

proprietors  whose  lots  were  unfit  for  building  after 
the  streets  had  been  opened  through.  It  was  neces- 
sary to  devise  some  plan  for  the  protection  of  these 
owners  and  at  the  same  time  permit  the  city  to  plan 
the  streets  without  reference  to  lot  lines.  Frankfort 
met  the  problem  by  working  out  a  method  by 
which  all  of  the  land  within  a  new  territory  is  joined 
into  a  single  plot,  the  lot  lines  being  wholly  disre- 
garded. Out  of  this  plot  the  land  needed  for  streets 
is  first  taken,  when  the  land  remaining  is  then 
carved  into  suitable  building  sites,  of  which  each 
owner  receives  a  share  corresponding  in  size  and 
value  to  the  area  taken  for  the  redistribution  less  the 
amount  taken  for  streets.  But  the  carrying  out  of 
such  a  redistribution  required  the  consent  of  all  the 
owners,  and  if  any  one  refused  to  consent  the  proj- 
ect had  to  be  abandoned.  To  free  the  city  from 
this  difficulty  the  Lex  Adickes  was  enacted,  under 
which  the  city  is  able  to  make  the  redistribution  if 
one-half  of  the  land-owners,  who  own  one-half  of  the 
land,  consent  to  it.  In  addition  the  act  empowered 
the  city  to  take  as  high  as  40  per  cent,  of  the  total 
area  affected  for  streets  and  to  leave  only  60  per 
cent,  for  redistribution  among  the  owners.  No  pay- 
ment is  made  by  the  city  for  the  40  per  cent,  so 
taken. 

The  development  is  done  by  the  city  usually  in  ad- 
vance of  any  house  construction.  Sewers  are  built 
in  the  centre  of  the  street  and  seem  adequate  for  all 


82  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

time.  Gas,  water,  telephone,  and  electric  mains  are 
laid  at  the  same  time  and  connected  to  the  cm'b. 
The  service  pipes  are  sometimes  placed  under  the 
sidewalks  close  by  the  building  line,  so  that  it  will 
not  be  necessary  to  tear  up  the  pavement  in  order 
to  get  access  to  them.  Once  completed,  the  streets 
need  not  be  disturbed.  Nor  are  warring  pubHc-util- 
ity  corporations  permitted  to  tear  up  the  pavement 
for  the  installation  or  repair  of  pipes  or  conduits. 
All  of  the  work  has  been  done  before  the  street  is 
dedicated  to  use.  Usually  the  street  is  not  surfaced 
until  the  houses  have  been  constructed,  when  it  is 
faced  with  asphalt,  macadam,  or  stone,  as  may  be 
provided  by  the  council. 

The  financing  of  improvements  is  made  as  conven- 
ient as  possible  to  the  owners,  who  are  assessed  for 
its  cost  according  to  foot  frontage  or  advantages 
received.  The  city  advances  the  money  and  carries 
the  total  cost  as  a  lien  on  the  premises  for  such  length 
of  time  as  may  be  necessary  to  enable  the  land  to 
be  sold  by  the  owners,  the  assessment  becoming  due 
when  the  property  is  built  upon. 

The  streets  of  Frankfort  are  officially  divided 
into  main  thoroughfares,  promenades,  and  ordinary 
streets.  The  main  thoroughfares,  which  radiate  from 
the  city  centre,  are  sufficiently  wide  to  carry  rail- 
way tracks  and  are  lined  with  trees  planted  along 
the  sidewalks.  The  boulevards  or  promenades,  which 
form  a  ring  around  the  town,  have  a  promenade-way 


FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN  83 

of  twenty-three  feet  for  pedestrians  in  the  centre^ 
which  is  planted  with  rows  of  trees  and  flower-beds 
on  either  side.  On  each  side  of  the  promenade-way 
are  asphalt  or  macadamized  carriage-ways.  The 
suburban  quarters  are  usually  laid  out  with  gar- 
dens in  front  of  the  houses. 

A  longitudinal  study  of  the  leading  streets  of  the 
city  shows  a  large  concrete  sewer  in  the  centre  of 
the  roadway  approximately  ten  feet  under  the  sur- 
face. On  one  side  are  conduits  for  the  fire  and  tele- 
graph system  and  on  the  other  for  the  distribution 
of  mail.  The  gas  and  water  mains  and  electric  light- 
ing and  telephone  conduits  are  laid  under  the  side- 
walks on  both  sides  of  the  streets.  They  are  laid 
at  various  depths  and  are  easily  accessible  without 
tearing  up  the  pavement.  They,  too,  are  laid  by 
the  municipal  authorities.  For  the  whole  roadway 
is  built  as  a  single  job,  from  property  line  to  prop- 
erty line. 

The  cleaning  of  the  street  is  done  by  the  city 
itself  by  direct  labor  rather  than  by  contract.  The 
city  is  divided  into  six  districts  with  a  chief  inspector 
in  charge  of  every  two  of  them.  Each  district  has  a 
central  depot  containing  offices,  workshops,  and  a 
mess-room  for  the  workmen  fitted  up  with  cooking 
and  heating  arrangements.  Here  all  the  machines 
and  tools  are  kept  and  the  horses  are  stabled.  The 
streets  are  cleaned  at  night  by  gangs,  each  of  which 
consists  of  fifteen  men  with  one  watering-cart,  two 


84  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

sweeping-machines,  and  two  dust-carts.  The  water- 
carts  begin  their  work  shortly  before  midnight  and 
are  followed  by  the  sweeping-machines  and  later  by 
the  dust-carts.  All  the  work  is  completed  by  eight 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  Each  gang  is  allotted  a 
certain  amount  of  work  which  must  be  completed 
within  the  specified  time.  Dust-carts  follow  the 
sweeping-machines  and  immediately  gather  up  the 
sweepings.  The  asphalt  streets  are  cleaned  every 
night  except  in  wintry  weather.  They  are  first  thor- 
oughly drenched  with  water  and  the  accumulated 
sludge  is  hauled  away.  During  the  day  uniformed 
white  wings  keep  the  street  in  immaculate  condi- 
tion. Asphalt  streets  are  sanded  in  frosty  weather 
and  also  after  a  rain.  House-owners  are  obliged  to 
clean  their  own  sidewalks  three  times  a  week,  to 
sand  them  during  the  winter  and  remove  the  snow 
and  ice.  This  work  is,  however,  done  by  the  city  on 
request,  in  which  case  a  charge  is  made. 

Refuse  from  the  houses  is  removed  three  times  a 
week  in  specially  constructed  covered  dust-carts 
which  make  collections  between  ten  o'clock  at  night 
and  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  refuse  must 
be  placed  in  tins  provided  for  the  purpose,  all  of  the 
prescribed  size.  Unique  appliances  have  been  de- 
vised to  reduce  the  dust  and  dirt  involved  in  the 
removal  of  ashes  and  refuse.  The  dust-carts  are 
constructed  with  small  openings  in  the  side  closed 
by   shutters.     These   shutters   open    automatically 


FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN  85 

when  the  full  ash-bins  are  placed  against  them  and 
close  again  when  the  bin  is  withdrawn.  The  cart  is 
emptied  by  being  tipped  on  hinges  at  an  angle  that 
ejects  the  refuse  from  the  rear. 


CHAPTER  V 
TOWN  PLANNING  AND  CITY  BUILDING 

German  cities  were  unprepared  for  the  industrial 
awakening  and  the  rapid  increase  in  population 
which  began  in  the  eighties.  Those  of  the  south 
were  surrounded  with  fortifications  over  which  the 
population  spread  into  the  outlying  districts.  Land 
speculators  began  to  lay  off  allotments  with  no  other 
concern  than  their  own  immediate  profit.  Rings  of 
mean  streets  appeared  round  about  the  old  towns, 
while  tenements  were  erected  into  which  the  popu- 
lation was  herded  much  as  it  is  in  England  and 
America.  There  was  no  adequate  provision  for  in- 
dustry, and  factories  located  themselves  anywhere 
without  regard  to  the  community,  just  as  they  do 
with  us.  In  addition  the  old  towns  were  built  for 
military  protection.  The  roadways  were  narrow 
and  crooked.  They  were  not  designed  for  street 
railways  or  business  traffic.  There  was  little  pro- 
vision even  for  vehicles  in  mediaeval  times,  when  in- 
dustry was  of  a  domestic  character  and  the  cities 
were  congested  into  the  smallest  possible  areas  as  a 
means  of  protection  from  their  many  foes.  Nor  was 
there  much  concern  for  health  and  sanitation  in  those 
days.    The  sewers  were  inadequate,  the  streets  were 

86 


TOWN  PLANNING  AND  CITY  BUILDING      87 

badly  paved,  and  the  municipal  life  was  for  the  most 
part  grouped  about  the  court  or  the  market-place. 

This  rapid  urban  growth  threatened  these  old  cities 
just  as  the  tenements,  springing  up  all  around  them, 
threatened  the  health  and  beauty  of  the  community. 
The  inner  towns  were  not  adjusted  to  modern  in- 
dustrial needs,  while  new  standards  of  sanitation 
and  health  became  necessary,  as  did  more  generous 
provision  for  air  and  light.  Provision  had  to  be 
made  for  the  mill  and  the  factory,  for  the  railway, 
and  for  terminals.  Parks,  open  spaces,  and  schools 
had  to  be  provided  in  response  to  the  democratic 
movement  and  the  enlightenment  of  the  state  which 
has  gone  hand-in-hand  with  the  industrial  revolution. 

The  art  of  town  planning  had  its  birth  in  these 
necessities.  It  was  a  protest  against  the  threatened 
destruction  of  the  old  towns  and  the  speculative 
building  of  the  new.  Men  saw  that  the  city  was  a 
permanent  thing  rather  than  a  fugitive  expression. 
They  realized  that  cities  would  grow  in  the  future 
as  they  had  in  the  past;  and  realizing  these  things, 
Germany  determined  that  the  city  should  be  built 
with  an  eye  to  the  needs  of  all  its  people  as  well  as 
its  highest  industrial  efficiency.  And  in  a  compara- 
tively short  time  Germany  has  built  industrial  com- 
munities as  beautiful  as  Washington.  There  are  fac- 
tory towns  as  full  of  the  joy  of  living  as  Paris.  There 
are  cities  whose  business  is  conducted  with  more 
scrupulous  honesty,  more  scientific  efficiency,  and 


88  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

more  devoted  pride  than  that  which  the  average 
business  corporation  in  America  commands.  There 
is  order  and  completeness.  The  city  is  planned  from 
the  bottom  up  and  from  centre  to  circumference. 
Apparently  nothing  is  left  to  chance.  There  are 
municipal  artists,  architects,  planners,  engineers,  and 
financiers,  to  whom  the  building  of  cities  has  become 
a  science,  just  as  much  a  science  as  the  building  of 
engines. 

Within  the  past  fifteen  years  almost  every  Ger- 
man city  has  undertaken  a  more  or  less  ambitious 
planning  project.  Almost  all  of  them  have  an  offi- 
cial plan  carefully  worked  out  in  detail  for  years  in 
advance  of  present  needs. 

There  are  experts  who  make  a  profession  of  plan- 
ning cities.  They  go  from  city  to  city  and  confer 
with  local  officials  on  definite  problems.  They  are 
employed  to  lay  out  suburbs,  plan  city  centres,  lo- 
cate pubHc  buildings,  project  new  streets  through 
old  quarters,  and  give  advice  on  health,  sanitation, 
and  housing,  as  to  building  regulations  and  land 
restrictions.  Every  phase  of  the  physical  life  of  the 
city  is  handled  by  an  expert  working  in  co-operation 
with  other  experts  on  other  problems. 

In  1901  Stuttgart  planned  a  new  suburban  devel- 
opment. Before  the  work  was  started  the  city  ob- 
tained an  elaborate  opinion  on  the  engineering  and 
architectural  problems  involved.  Similar  reports 
were  secured  from  architects  and  the  surveyor  of 


TOWN  PLANNING  AND  CITY  BUILDING     89 

buildings.  Reports  were  made  upon  the  hygienic 
aspects  of  the  work  by  the  local  medical  officers  as 
well  as  by  an  expert  from  another  city,  while  the 
social  and  industrial  aspects  of  the  project  were  sur- 
veyed by  recognized  authorities  on  the  subject. 
Other  experts  gave  advice  on  the  artistic  aspects  of 
the  projects,  and  all  of  the  reports  were  then  pub- 
lished in  a  volume  to  enable  the  citizens  to  study 
the  proposals.  The  methods  employed  by  Berlin, 
Munich,  and  Diisseldorf,  in  which  cities  competi- 
tions were  held,  are  described  elsewhere. 

There  is  a  college  of  town  planning  in  Berlin,  while 
in  1911  Diisseldorf  opened  a  university  of  town  plan- 
ning and  city  administration.  A  regular  periodical, 
Der  Staedtebau,  is  published,  and  a  large  literature 
has  made  its  appearance.  During  the  summer  of 
1909  an  exposition  was  held  in  Berlin  on  town 
planning. 

The  exposition  was  a  recognition  of  the  birth  of 
the  art  of  building  cities.  It  was  a  surprise  even 
to  Germany.  There  were  exhibits  from  all  over  the 
country,  some  of  them  completed,  most  of  them  in 
actual  progress.  There  were  models  of  suburban  de- 
velopments, of  groups  of  public  buildings,  of  hous- 
ing experiments.  There  were  studies  of  the  relation 
of  transportation  and  traffic  to  city  building.  Sug- 
gested plans  for  the  remodelling  of  old  cities  by  the 
opening  up  of  new  thoroughfares;  the  creation  of 
civic  centres  and  the  designing  of  parks  and  play- 


90  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

grounds  were  exhibited,  as  were  artistic  proposals  for 
fountains,  statues,  lamp-posts,  street-railway  signs, 
etc.  Charts  were  exhibited  showing  the  density  of 
population,  the  proportion  of  rent  to  income,  and  the 
number  of  families  in  apartments  of  different  sizes. 
Later  the  exhibition  was  transferred  to  Diisseldorf, 
and  was  subsequently  taken  to  London  in  connec- 
tion with  the  town-planning  exhibit  of  the  Royal 
Institute  of  Architects.  During  the  summer  of 
1912  a  similar  town-plan  nmg  exposition  was  held 
by  the  city  of  Diisseldorf. 

As  a  preliminary  step  to  any  planning  project, 
cities  enlarge  their  boundaries  and  take  in  the  sur- 
rounding villages  and  suburban  territory.  And 
cities  have  generally  widened  their  boundaries  in 
recognition  of  the  fact  that  the  urban  district  should 
include  a  wide  circumferential  area.  The  area  of 
Diisseldorf  is  29,000  acres;  of  Cologne,  28,800;  of 
Frankfort,  23,203.  Having  enlarged  its  boundaries, 
the  city  is  in  a  position  to  control  its  development, 
to  plan  for  its  future  growth.  Ordinances  are  then 
passed  by  the  town  council  providing  either  for  a 
comprehensive  plan  for  the  entire  city  or  for  the 
planning  of  certain  suburban  areas  for  residential 
or  business  purposes.  Competitions  are  frequently 
held  to  which  town-planning  experts  are  invited. 
The  city  prepares  maps,  statistics  of  growth,  trans- 
portation, and  other  data,  and  submits  them  to  the 
competitors  the  same  as  to  a  private  builder.    Such 


TOWN  PLANNING  AND  CITY  BUILDING     91 

competitions  have  been  held  by  Berlin,  Munich,  and 
Diisseldorf  and  have  awakened  great  interest.  They 
are  not  necessarily  confined  to  the  planning  of  an 
entire  city;  they  are  frequently  limited  to  a  subur- 
ban area,  the  competitors  making  suggestions  as  to 
the  best  means  for  utilizing  natural  advantages,  the 
style  and  plan  of  streets,  the  location  of  parks  and 
playgroimds,  and  the  development  of  the  territory 
in  the  most  intensive  and  effective  way  possible. 
Almost  every  large  city  has  experts  on  town  plan- 
ning in  the  magistrat  as  well. 

The  city  treats  the  land  on  which  it  is  built  as  an 
architect  treats  the  site  of  a  structure.  It  treats  it 
as  a  unit,  with  plumbing,  circulation,  breathing-spots, 
and  centres  for  the  various  activities  of  the  com- 
munity. And  when  the  plans  are  finally  approved  by 
the  authorities  they  must  be  observed  by  everybody. 
Maps  of  the  territory  surrounding  the  city  are  then 
prepared  on  which  proposed  streets  are  indicated. 
To  these  plans  the  owner  must  conform  in  laying 
off  his  property  for  sale.  He  is  not  permitted  to 
plan  his  land  as  he  wills,  to  lay  out  the  streets,  or 
determine  their  width,  style,  and  direction.  He  may 
not  plat  his  land  as  suits  his  fancy  or  decide  for 
what  it  shall  be  used.  The  German  city  treats  its 
foundations  as  a  matter  of  public  rather  than  of 
private  concern.  It  plans  for  generations  to  come 
rather  than  for  the  day.  Private  property  is  sub- 
ordinate to  public  use  and  the  rights  of  the  indi- 


92  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

vidual  are  controlled  in  the  interest  of  the  whole 
community. 

No  municipal  problem  receives  more  attention  than 
the  building  of  streets.  Their  planning  engages  the 
best  thought  of  officials  and  experts.  For  streets 
control  a  city's  life.  In  America  no  subject  is  more 
neglected  than  this.  We  have  erected  fine  schools, 
have  laid  out  some  of  the  most  beautiful  parks  in 
the  world;  we  have  done  commendable  work  in  the 
sewage  systems  of  many  cities,  but  the  building  of 
streets  has  received  little  attention.  For  the  most 
part  it  has  been  left  in  private  hands.  Even  the  di- 
rection and  width  of  streets  is  determined  by  land 
speculators  as  suits  their  fancy.  They  are  permitted 
to  put  in  pavements  and  sewers  even  though  the}^ 
are  so  inadequate  that  they  have  to  be  shortly  re- 
placed at  public  expense. 

Washington  is  almost  the  only  city  that  planned 
its  street  system  with  any  vision  of  the  future.  The 
capital  was  laid  out  on  paper  over  a  century  ago 
by  Charles  Peter  L' Enfant  under  the  direction  of 
President  Washington,  with  the  aim  of  buildmg  a 
city  worthy  of  the  nation.  But  Washington  is  al- 
most the  only  American  city  that  was  so  planned. 
Philadelphia  controls  its  street  extensions  into  the 
suburbs,  as  do  Boston  and  New  York.  But  even 
in  these  cities  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  realize 
the  artistic  possibilities  of  streets  or  to  adjust  them 
to  a  imiform  plan.    In  no  department  of  adminis- 


TOWN  PLANNING  AND  CITY  BUILDING     93 

tration  have  our  cities  more  signally  failed  than  in 
the  planning  and  building  of  streets. 

German  town  planners  have  worked  out  the  great- 
est variety  in  streets.  For  certain  purposes  the 
plan  is  formal  or  classic,  with  thoroughfares  radiat- 
ing out  from  a  centre,  as  do  the  streets  and  avenues 
of  Washington.  This  plan  is  usually  adopted  for 
focal  points  or  in  connection  with  some  big  city 
centre  where  vistas  of  public  buildings  are  desired. 
There  are  radial  thoroughfares  running  out  from 
the  centre  of  the  city  like  the  spokes  of  a  wheel 
as  well  as  parklike  boulevards,  or  Ring  Strassen, 
which  surround  the  city.  Many  of  the  streets  have 
sweeping  curves  so  as  to  secure  repeated  vistas  of 
the  house  fronts.  Others  are  narrow  and  irregular. 
They  are  designed  for  coziness  and  retirement.  A 
conscious  effort  is  made  to  discourage  traffic  on 
those  streets  that  have  been  dedicated  to  residential 
uses. 

The  rectangular  arrangement  of  streets  which  pre- 
vails so  universally  in  America  is  rarely  followed. 
It  is  monotonous,  offers  no  opportunity  for  command- 
ing sites,  and  has  been  discarded  by  German  town 
planners.  The  modification  of  the  rectangular  grid- 
iron plan  by  the  addition  of  radial  avenues,  of  which 
Washington  is  such  a  conspicuous  example,  has  been 
generally  abandoned  because  of  its  inelasticity  and 
coldness.  Almost  always  the  natural  advantages 
and  topography  of  the  land  are  preserved  irrespec- 


94  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

tive  of  grades.  The  motive  is  to  substitute  irregu- 
larity for  regularity;  to  give  streets  character  and 
charm  and  adjust  them  to  specific  uses.  Streets 
should  have  variety,  these  planners  say.  We  see  the 
effectiveness  of  the  sweeping  curved  type  of  street 
on  the  Grand  Canal  in  Venice,  in  Regent  Street, 
London,  and  in  High  Street,  Oxford.  These  streets 
have  a  charm  of  their  own,  because  of  the  unexpected 
vistas  which  break  constantly  on  the  view.  There 
are  new  pictures  at  every  step. 

Other  street  planners  have  gone  back  to  the  irreg- 
ular mediaeval  type  of  street  found  in  Nuremberg, 
Cologne,  Rothenburg,  and  Frankfort.  They  have 
designed  streets  for  the  suburbs  with  as  much  ir- 
regularity as  possible.  Some  come  to  a  dead  end, 
while  others  break  off  in  sharp  turnings.  There  is 
no  uniform  width  or  direction.  The  effort  of  this 
school  of  planners  is  to  secure  picturesqueness,  cozi- 
ness  and  a  sense  of  retirement. 

The  main  thoroughfares  are  planned  on  a  different 
scale.  They  are  commanding  and  spacious.  They, 
too,  are  planned  for  a  particular  use,  that  of  traffic 
thoroughfares.  They  range  from  150  to  250  feet  in 
width.  In  the  centre  is  a  parkway.  On  either  side 
are  street-railway  tracks.  A  bridle-path  is  often 
provided,  while  on  either  side  are  roadways  for 
vehicular  traffic.  These  radial  thoroughfares  are 
designed  to  minimize  distances,  to  reduce  transpor- 
tation costs.    They  are  the  trunk  lines  of  the  city. 


Spacious  Street  Construction,  Charlottenburg. 


Type  of  Street  Construction,  Frankfort-on-the-Main. 

Showing  broad  parking  with  ornamental  fountains  and  new  style  of  residential 

architecture. 


TOWN  PLANNING  AND  CITY  BUILDING     95 

The  council  determines  the  material  to  be  used, 
whether  it  be  wood  blocks,  stone,  or  asphalt.  It 
decides  on  what  streets  front  gardens  are  required, 
how  far  back  houses  must  be  located  from  the  curb 
line,  as  well  as  the  distance  between  houses.  It  also 
determines  beforehand  as  to  the  class  and  character 
of  buildings  that  may  be  erected  in  different  locali- 
ties. It  dedicates  some  districts  to  factories,  others 
to  expensive  villas,  and  still  others  to  workingroen's 
homes. 

Before  work  on  any  suburban  development  is  un- 
dertaken the  plans  and  building  regulations  are  placed 
on  exhibition  and  the  public  is  invited  to  inspect  them 
and  make  criticisms.  After  considering  the  sugges- 
tions the  plans  are  finally  approved  by  the  local 
authorities,  when  they  become  the  official  building 
plans  of  the  city.  Property-owners  have  a  right  to 
appeal  to  the  courts,  but  it  rarely  happens  that  the 
plan  is  rejected  because  of  private  objections.  There 
was  some  protest  at  first  from  land-owners  against 
this  control,  but  time  has  demonstrated  that  such 
oversight  by  the  city  protects  the  land-owner  and 
increases  the  value  of  his  property  rather  than  de- 
preciates it.  It  protects  him  from  the  license  of  irre- 
sponsible neighbors  and  compels  all  persons  to  use 
their  own  in  harmony  with  the  whole.  Owners  gen- 
erally transfer  to  the  city  such  land  as  is  needed  for 
streets  without  compensation,  while  cities  have  a 
right  to  take  from  30  to  40  per  cent,  of  the  property 


96  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

for  streets  and  open  spaces  without  payment  to  the 
owner. 

Such  are  the  street  plans  and  suburban-develop- 
ment projects  of  nearly  all  the  growing  cities. 

The  city  also  controls  the  site  on  which  it  is  built 
much  as  it  controls  its  streets.  It  does  this:  (1) 
through  land-ownership,  (2)  through  the  regulation 
of  private  owners,  and  (3)  in  a  sense  through  taxa- 
tion. Officials  realize  that  the  land  on  which  the 
city  is  located  controls  everything  else.  It  controls 
the  city's  size  and  appearance.  It  controls  the 
homes  people  Hve  in.  Official  control  of  the  city's 
site  is  the  first  essential  to  city  building. 

The  German  city  is  frequently  the  largest  land- 
owner in  the  community.  From  the  earHest  times 
German  towns  have  owned  forests  and  common 
lands  which  were  used  for  pasturage,  for  the  gather- 
ing of  fuel,  for  forestry  and  agriculture.  Much  of 
this  land  has  been  retained,  while  in  recent  years 
great  additions  have  been  made  to  city  holdings.  It 
is  stated  by  a  German  writer  that  "no  less  than 
1,500  towns  and  villages  in  Germany  still  own,  and 
have  owned  right  down  from  the  Middle  Ages,  so 
much  common  land  that  their  inhabitants  pay  neither 
rates  nor  taxes."  ^ 

In  1902  an  official  report^  on  land-ownership  by 
German  cities  stated  that  Posen  owned  10  square 

^  Westminster  Review,  July,  1907. 
*  Soziale  Praxis,  December  5,  1902. 


TOWN  PLANNING  AND  CITY  BUILDING     97 

yards  of  land  per  capita;  Barmen,  10.76;  Dresden, 
14.95;  and  Essen,  17.70.  Of  the  thirty-one  towns 
enumerated  only  seven  had  less  than  23.94  square 
yards  per  capita.  Nine  of  the  towns  had  from  59.8 
to  119.6  square  yards,  while  five  towns  had  from 
119.6  to  239.2  square  yards  of  land.  Strassburg, 
which  owns  364.78  square  yards  to  every  one  of  its 
inhabitants,  is  the  largest  of  the  municipal  land- 
owners. 

And  instead  of  selling  the  land,  towns  constantly 
add  to  their  possessions.  Between  1890  and  1902 
the  city  of  Cologne  increased  its  holdings  by  1,269 
per  cent.  During  the  same  period  Chemnitz  added 
605  per  cent.;  Munich,  334  per  cent.;  Dresden,  290 
per  cent. ;  and  Mannheim,  254  per  cent,  to  their  pre- 
vious possessions.  In  ten  years'  time  Berlin  added 
21.52  square  yards  of  land  per  head  of  its  population, 
notwithstanding  its  increase  in  size. 

In  this  policy  the  government  has  given  the  cities 
every  encouragement.  Some  years  ago  orders  were 
issued  by  Prussia  to  administrative  officials  to  use 
their  influence  to  induce  the  towns  to  buy  as  much 
land  as  they  could  obtain  and  to  retain  existing  hold- 
ings and  all  they  should  thereafter  acquire. 

Berlin  owns  land  to  the  extent  of  240.8  per  cent, 
of  its  total  area,  including  the  area  owned  outside 
of  its  boundaries.  Frankfort  owns  48.9  per  cent,  of 
the  land  within  its  limits.  Ulm  owns  80  per  cent. ; 
Mannheim,  35.4  per  cent.;    and  Hanover,  37.7  per 


98 


EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 


cent,  of  the  land  within  its  boundaries.  The  fol- 
lowing table  indicates  the  extent  of  land-ownership, 
both  within  and  without  the  city,  of  a  number  of 
European  cities,  for  the  policy  of  municipal  land- 
ownership  is  not  confined  to  Germany: 


Total 

Area  or 

CiTT 

Acres 

Total 

Amount  of 

Land  Owned 

BY  City 

Acres 

Pboportion  of  Total 
City  Area 

Within 

City 

Per  Cent. 

WiTHOirr 

City 
Per  Cent. 

Berlin 

15,689.54 
21,290.24 
14,095.25 
19,345.45 
9,677.25 
2,338.60 
10,470.37 
10,894.64 

39,151.28 
13,597.02 
8,406.84 
11,866.98 
5,674.90 
1,633.33 
4,480.79 
5,621.52 

9.2 
23.7 
32.3 
33.2 
37.7 
4.2 
3.05 
26.0 

240.8 
37.8 
27.4 

281.1 
20.4 
65.1 
42.9 
25.9 

Munich 

Leipsic 

Strassburg 

Hanover 

Schoeneberg.  .  .  . 

Spandau  

Zurich 

The  motives  underlying  this  poHcy  of  public 
land-ownership  are  officially  stated  by  the  city  of 
Diisseldorf  as  follows: 

"The  city  of  Diisseldorf  has  recently  acquired  large 
tracts  of  land.  The  extension  of  the  city  and  the 
unexpected  appearance  of  many  municipal  problems, 
the  very  large  extension  of  municipal  undertakings, 
the  practicability  of  various  institutions,  make  it  nec- 
essary for  the  municipality  to  become  the  owner  of 
land  in  various  sections  of  the  city.  The  adminis- 
tration which  meets  the  necessary  needs  of  the  hour 
and  leaves  the  provision  for  the  future  to  the  com- 
ing generation  may  be  justly  accused  of  shortsighted- 
ness.   Experience  teaches  that  a  plat  of  land  is  very 


TOWN  PLANNING  AND  CITY  BUILDING     99 

often  much  dearer  at  the  time  it  is  needed  than  some 
time  previously. 

"The  city  should  not,  however,  acquire  land  only 
for  its  own  immediate  needs.  It  is  entirely  to  be 
sanctioned,  if  the  city  participates  in  the  rise  of  the 
prices  of  land  through  the  establishment  of  munici- 
pal institutions  that  causes  such  rise  in  the  price  of 
land  serving  such  institutions.  The  city  should  es- 
pecially become  the  owner  of  land  in  the  suburban 
sections  and  thus  influence  the  development  of  the 
sections,  the  mode  of  building  and  creation  of  larger 
squares,  and  should  influence  also  the  opening  of  land 
for  building  purposes  and  thus  keep  down  the  prices 
of  these  plats. 

"The  increase  in  the  value  of  municipal  lands  is, 
according  to  experience,  on  an  average  at  least  four 
per  cent,  annually,  taking  a  long  number  of  years  as 
standard.  Even  though  stagnation  in  the  rise  of 
prices  does  set  in  at  times,  still  the  interest  at  four 
per  cent,  will  be  found  to  have  been  realized  and  we 
may  even  figure  upon  four  per  cent,  with  compound 
interest.  Whereas  an  investment  at  four  per  cent, 
doubles  itself  in  seventeen  years,  we  have  found 
ground  values  to  treble  and  quadmple  themselves 
during  the  same  time  and  in  some  cases  multiply 
themselves  more  than  that."^ 

Cities  generally  anticipate  future  needs  by  buying 
land  for  schools  as  well  as  for  open  spaces  and  other 
pubhc  uses  before  the  territory  has  been  opened  up 
for  sale.  This  protects  the  city  from  speculative 
prices  and  enables  it  to  provide  generously  for  school 
sites  and  recreation   in  the  suburbs,  where  play- 

*  For  further  information  as  to  the  land  policy  of  Dvieseldorf,  see 
chapter  III. 


100  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

grounds  and  gardens  of  the  greatest  variety  are  to 
be  found. 

A  similar  policy  is  often  adopted  as  a  means  of 
financing  docks,  harbors,  and  industrial  sections. 
Frankfort,  whose  harbor  project  is  described  else- 
where, acquired  1,180  acres  of  land  at  agricultural 
prices  before  the  project  was  undertaken,  and  expects 
to  pay  the  greater  part,  if  not  the  entire  cost,  amount- 
ing to  nearly  $18,000,000,  out  of  the  increase  in  land 
values  which  the  undertaking  itseK  creates.  The 
policy  and  profits  of  Ulm  in  a  suburban-development 
plan  are  described  elsewhere. 

Cities  also  determine  the  uses  to  which  land  can 
be  put  by  the  owners.  Factories  are  required  to  lo- 
cate upon  the  railway  or  harbor  and  on  the  side  of 
the  city  away  from  the  prevailing  winds.  Thus  the 
smoke  and  dirt  are  blown  away  from  the  city  rather 
than  across  it.  Terminals  and  railway  connections 
are  built  with  switches,  sidings,  and  spurs  which  are 
linked  up  with  the  canals  and  water-ways  to  insure 
the  economical  handling  of  freight.  This  is  one  way 
by  which  Germany  controls  monopoly.  It  makes  it 
easy  for  new  concerns  to  enter  the  field.  It  supplies 
them  with  cheap  sites  advantageously  located,  and 
gives  them  every  facility  for  cheap  transportation. 
The  territory  near  the  factory  district  is  dedicated 
to  workingmen's  homes,  where  the  streets  are  planned 
with  this  object  in  view.  In  the  neighborhood  parks, 
playgrounds,  and  public  baths  are  usually  provided. 


TOWN    PLANNING    AND    CITY    BUILDING      101 

This  control  of  the  land  does  not  depreciate  its 
value.  Rather  it  increases  it.  It  protects  the  resi- 
dence area  from  alien  interests  and  insures  its  natural 
rather  than  its  forced  use.  This  is  now  so  generally 
recognized  that  real-estate  owners  co-operate  with 
officials  in  planning  projects. 

Cities  still  further  control  the  growth  of  the  city 
by  what  is  known  as  the  zone  system.  The  council 
divides  the  city  into  districts  in  which  the  building 
regulations  are  fixed  in  advance  of  local  development. 
These  building  ordinances  prescribe :  (1)  The  amount 
of  land  that  may  be  covered  by  buildings;  (2)  the 
height  of  the  structures  that  may  be  erected;  (3) 
the  distance  they  must  be  located  back  from  the 
street,  and  (4)  the  space  which  must  be  left  between 
buildings.  These  districts  are  like  the  fire  zones  of 
our  cities;  they  insure  proper  sanitation,  light,  and 
air,  and  prevent  the  reappearance  of  the  crowded 
tenement  and  slum.  In  the  suburban  plans  of  Ulm 
the  new  area  opened  up  for  building  was  divided  as 
follows:  17  per  cent,  was  dedicated  to  streets,  20 
per  cent,  only  was  allowed  to  be  covered  by  buildings, 
13  per  cent,  was  reserved  for  back  gardens,  and  50 
per  cent,  for  front  gardens.  Mannheim  is  divided 
into  three  building  zones.  In  the  first  zone,  or  busi- 
ness district,  60  per  cent,  of  the  land  may  be  covered 
by  structures,  which  must  not  exceed  five  stories  in 
height.  In  the  next  outer  zone  50  per  cent,  of  the 
lot  area  may  be  built  upon,  while  the  structures  may 


102  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

not  exceed  four  stories  in  height.  In  the  outlying 
sections  three  stories  is  the  Umit,  while  a  smaller 
percentage  of  the  land  may  be  built  upon. 

In  the  business  district  of  Frankfort  75  per  cent, 
of  the  land  may  be  covered  by  buildings,  which  may 
not  exceed  five  stories,  or  more  than  65  feet,  in  height. 
In  the  second  outer  zone  buildings  may  be  four 
stories  high,  but  never  higher  than  the  width  of  the 
street.  In  the  third  suburban  zone  two  stories  is 
the  limit. 

The  building  ordinances  of  Cologne  provide  that 
25  per  cent,  of  the  land  must  be  left  free  in  the  busi- 
ness section,  35  per  cent,  in  the  next  two  outer  zones, 
while  in  the  suburban  residence  section  only  50  per 
cent,  may  be  built  upon.  In  Berlin  the  height  of 
buildings  in  front  is  limited  to  the  width  of  the  street, 
with  a  maximum  of  70  feet.  The  height  may  be  in- 
creased to  72  feet  if  the  structure  is  set  back  from 
the  building  line.  In  Paris  buildings  are  limited  to 
the  width  of  the  street. 

Architectural  harmony  is  insured  by  these  restric- 
tions. There  is  a  uniform  sky-line  as  well  as  a  uni- 
form house-frontage.  There  are  no  dark  canyons 
into  which  the  sun  rarely  enters;  there  is  no  hideous 
incongruity  of  architecture.  Nor  are  there  any  tax- 
earners  built  by  speculators.  The  German  city  in- 
sists that  the  community  has  a  right  to  be  protected 
from  ugliness  just  as  from  any  other  nuisance. 

Public  buildings  are  harmoniously  grouped  about 


TOWN   PLANNING    AND    CITY    BUILDING     103 

a  commanding  centre.  Bridges  have  fine  approaches, 
while  the  river  and  canal  banks  are  laid  out  as  parks 
and  promenade  places.  Clock-towers,  statues,  and 
public  gardens  are  scattered  through  the  city.  Along 
the  street  railway  lines  are  artistic  waiting-rooms. 
Public  street  signs  are  carefully  designed,  as  are  the 
electric-lighting  poles.  Service  wires  are  placed  in 
conduits  underground  as  a  matter  of  course.  In 
some  cities  the  trolley  spans  are  hung  by  rosettes 
from  the  sides  of  the  buildings.  Business  signs  rarely 
overhang  the  street  and  are  minimized  or  pro- 
hibited altogether,  while  billboard  announcements 
are  limited  to  circular  kiosks  located  in  prominent 
places. 

Almost  every  large  city  has  a  park  close  by  the 
business  district.  There  are  Hofgartens,  city  cen- 
tres, and  market-places  which  are  utilized  for  recrea- 
tion and  rest.  In  all  public  work  beauty  is  treated 
as  incidental  to  the  useful.  It  is  taken  as  a  matter 
of  course  that  public  and  private  work  shall  not  be 
ugly. 

Cities  have  jealously  preserved  the  old  parts  of  the 
town  in  their  rebuilding  projects.  Frankfort  pro- 
tected its  old  crooked  streets  and  mediaeval  buildings 
with  reverence.  The  old  gates  of  Munich,  Bremen, 
and  Diisseldorf  have  been  kept  in  their  original  set- 
ting and  have  been  harmoniously  framed  with  other 
structures.  In  Nuremberg  and  Munich  the  subur- 
ban housing  projects  have  been  designed  to  repro- 


104  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

duce  the  old  types  of  houses  with  overhanging  upper 
stories. 

Each  city,  too,  has  one  or  more  great  city  centres 
about  which  public  buildings  are  grouped.  Build- 
ings are  located  across  the  end  of  a  fine  street  so  as 
to  secure  the  most  effective  vistas.  In  Berlin  there 
is  the  Lustgarten  with  the  palaces,  opera-houses, 
cathedrals,  and  museums.  The  new  Reichstag  build- 
ing is  in  the  centre  of  another  commanding  group. 
The  Zwinger  and  surrounding  palaces  and  art  gallery 
of  Dresden  form  one  of  the  most  splendid  centres  in 
Europe.  Munich  has  half  a  dozen  civic  centres, 
while  Mannheim,  Frankfort,  and  Diisseldorf  locate 
their  public  structures  with  an  eye  to  their  greatest 
effectiveness  and  service. 

Opera-houses  and  theatres  are  located  in  the  same 
way  as  part  of  a  comprehensive  official  plan.  They 
are  maintained  or  subsidized  by  the  city,  as  neces- 
sary parts  of  a  well-ordered  municipal  life.  They 
are  designed  by  great  architects  and  have  the  same 
place  in  the  affections  of  the  community  as  the  cathe- 
drals or  royal  palaces  of  earlier  days.  Generous 
provision  is  made  for  open  spaces,  for  parks,  gardens, 
and  playgrounds.  In  the  newer  sections  such  open 
places  are  found  within  easy  walking  distance  of  al- 
most every  home.  These  gardens  and  open  spaces 
are  very  varied.  Some  are  round,  others  are  square. 
Still  others  are  sunken.  Often  these  smaU  parks  are 
on  one  side  of  the  street  rather  than  in  its  centre,  so 


I 


TOWN    PLANNING    AND    CITY    BUILDING      105 

as  not  to  obstruct  the  traffic.  The  imagination  of 
the  artist  has  been  allowed  free  play  in  the  design- 
ing of  these  neighborhood  parks. 

Almost  every  bit  of  water  is  jealously  preserved  and 
developed  by  the  city,  whether  it  be  an  old  moat,  an 
inland  lake,  a  little  stream  or  a  canal,  river  or  ocean 
front.  Water-frontage  is  deemed  a  priceless  posses- 
sion, and  it  has  proven  so  to  many  cities.  The  Alster, 
a  fresh-water  lake  in  the  heart  of  Hamburg,  is  the 
centre  of  the  city's  life.  About  it  the  business  as 
well  as  the  pleasure  of  the  city  moves.  The  cities 
of  Bremen  and  Dusseldorf  have  parked  the  moats 
which  surrounded  the  old  towns.  They  are  features 
of  the  city's  beauty.  The  river  banks  are  developed 
as  promenades  and  parkways  as  well  as  the  site  for 
public  buildings  and  cafes. 

The  water  approaches  of  the  American  city  are 
its  most  neglected  parts.  They  are  given  over  to 
railway  tracks,  warehouses,  and  factories,  with  no 
attempt  to  preserve  their  beauty  or  insure  their  full- 
est use  by  the  community. 

Many  of  the  German  cities  received  valuable  heri- 
tages from  the  past  in  the  sites  of  the  fortifications 
which  surrounded  the  old  towns.  In  Cologne, 
Frankfort,  Ulm,  and  Bremen  these  fortifications  were 
acquired  from  the  nation  and  converted  into  ring- 
strassen  which  encircle  the  city  and  separate  the  old 
from  the  new.  Cologne  has  two  such  boulevards, 
indicating  various  periods  of  the  city's  fortifications. 


106  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

These  ringstrassen  are  laid  out  with  elaborate  care 
and  are  the  most  commanding  streets  in  the  world. 
Upon  the  ringstrassen  public  buildings,  opera- 
houses,  and  private  residences  have  been  erected. 
Along  these  parkways  are  gardens,  statuary,  and 
opportunity  for  recreation. 

But  city  planning  is  a  larger  programme  than 
streets,  parks,  or  playgrounds.  It  is  far  more  than 
the  city  beautiful.  City  planning  is  more  properly 
city  building.  It  involves  the  planning  of  water  and 
steam  and  street  transportation  so  as  to  reduce  the 
cost  of  transit  and  loss  of  time  to  a  minimum.  It 
means  building  terminals  to  facilitate  trade  and  in- 
dustry. Street  railways,  gas,  electric  light,  and  wa- 
ter are  treated  as  the  cities'  vital  organs  to  be  owned 
and  operated  for  service,  comfort,  and  convenience. 
They  are  owned  by  the  city  because  they  control 
its  life,  its  growth,  its  development. 

When  a  city  undertakes  a  harbor  project,  the  rail- 
way administration  co-operates  with  it.  There  is 
no  conflict  between  the  city  and  the  railway  over 
streets,  stations,  or  terminals.  The  railway  is  not 
an  eyesore,  a  source  of  annoyance,  dirt,  and  smoke. 
It  is  part  of  the  city  plan.  Terminals,  tracks,  and 
stations  are  built  into  the  city  just  as  are  the  streets. 
Stations  are  located  at  convenient  places,  and  sidings 
are  built  where  needed.  Every  possible  facility  is 
afforded  to  make  the  means  of  transportation  serve. 

Harbors  are  planned  as  integral  parts  of  the  com- 


Elevated  Railway  Station,  Berlin. 
Showing  artistic  construction  of  station  and  supporting  columns. 


DtJssELDORF  River  Embankment. 

Showing  use  of  river  for  pleasure  and  business;  also  the  ornamental  development 
of  promenade-way  and  river  boulevard.  Railway  tracks  and  landing-stage  for 
boats  below. 


TOWN  PLANNING  AND  CITY  BUILDING     107 

munity  and  of  the  industrial  machinery  of  the  empire. 
All  along  the  Rhine  River,  on  the  North  Sea  and  the 
Baltic,  natural  harbors  have  been  developed  by  the 
cities  or  artificial  ones  created.  Even  inland  cities 
like  Berlin  and  Dresden  utilize  the  streams  for  carry- 
ing on  a  tremendous  traffic,  while  canals  have  been 
constructed  to  open  up  almost  every  section  of  the 
empire.  Germany's  industrial  eminence  is  largely 
due  to  the  scientific  planning  of  rail  and  water  trans- 
portation and  the  intelligent  building  of  cities,  so  that 
each  will  reahze  its  highest  industrial  possibilities. 
All  are  part  of  a  great  industrial  organism  as  con- 
sciously developed  as  is  the  military  and  naval  pro- 
gramme of  the  empire. 

Thought  in  America  is  obsessed  with  the  idea  that 
the  laws  of  commerce  are  like  the  laws  of  nature. 
We  assume  that  these  laws  cannot  be  controlled  or 
aided  by  man.  We  have  left  transportation  to  pri- 
vate control.  With  the  exception  of  New  York, 
Baltimore,  New  Orleans,  Los  Angeles,  and  San  Fran- 
cisco, few  seaboard  cities  have  made  any  effort  to 
develop  their  water-frontage,  while  upon  the  Great 
Lakes  the  harbors  of  Buffalo,  Cleveland,  Chicago, 
Milwaukee,  Duluth,  and  almost  all  the  smaller  towns 
are  the  possession  of  the  railways  or  private  owners. 
Tens  of  millions  of  dollars  have  been  spent  by  the 
government  in  the  building  of  breakwaters,  canal- 
ways,  locks,  and  other  improvements,  which  have  en- 
riched the  riparian  owners  but  done  little  to  convert 


108  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

this  great  highway  of  commerce  into  a  public  water- 
way. Rather  the  reverse  is  true.  In  recent  years, 
independent  shipping  has  diminished  on  the  Great 
Lakes  because  of  the  inadequate  harbor  facilities. 
It  would  at  least  be  reasonable  to  insist  that,  before 
any  appropriation  is  made  by  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment for  such  purposes,  the  cities  or  the  States 
should  first  make  adequate  provision  for  public  har- 
bors in  order  that  the  benefits  of  the  improvement 
should  accrue  to  the  community. 

Nor  have  we  utilized  our  water-fronts,  as  do  Eu- 
ropean countries,  for  beauty  and  recreation.  They 
should  be  the  centre  of  the  city's  recreational  life. 
Yet  nowhere,  with  the  exception  of  Boston,  have 
cities  consciously  developed  their  water-front  for 
these  purposes.  The  Charles  River  basin,  which  lies 
between  Boston  and  Cambridge,  is  almost  the  only 
example  we  have  of  intelligent,  far-sighted  city  plan- 
ning of  inland  waters.  A  score  of  cities  have  greater 
advantages  than  any  of  the  Rhine  towns,  while  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  harbors  are  susceptible  of  being 
made  the  most  beautiful  in  the  world. 

City  planning  is  a  radical  departure  from  the 
laissez  faire  philosophy  which  dominates  politics,  in- 
dustry, and  thought,  in  this  country.  It  is  a  recog- 
nition of  the  fact  that  individualism  has  broken  down 
in  housing,  in  transportation,  in  the  supply  of  many 
services  that  lie  at  the  heart  of  our  daily  life.  The 
German  city  realizes  that  the  community  must  pro- 


TOWN  PLANNING  AND  CITY  BUILDING     109 

tect  its  health,  its  water  supply,  its  food,  its  chil- 
dren, its  workers.  City  planning  extends  the  commu- 
nity idea  still  further.  It  protests  against  ugliness, 
against  discomfort,  against  dirt  and  disease.  It  pro- 
tects the  community  purse  against  the  costs  of  vice, 
crime,  and  infection,  from  the  tenement  and  the 
slum,  from  the  denial  of  light,  sunshine,  and  air.  It 
treats  transit  as  part  of  the  housing  question ;  trans- 
portation as  an  adjunct  to  industry  and  commerce; 
the  water-front  as  a  means  of  communication  and 
pleasure.  City  planning  means  all  these  things  and 
more.  It  means  the  control  of  property  in  the  in- 
terests of  humanity.  It  means  planning  cities  for 
people  to  live  in  as  well  as  to  work  in.  It  means 
building  a  community  as  an  agency  of  civilization, 
culture,  and  art. 

In  America  we  have  exalted  the  rights  of  property 
above  the  rights  of  the  community.  Courts,  councils) 
and  mayors  reflect  this  motive.  So  do  the  legislat- 
ures. We  may  not  regulate  the  height  of  bill-boards, 
suppress  smoke,  limit  the  height  of  buildings,  or  plan 
suburban  land  without  encountering  an  injunction 
from  the  courts  allowed  on  the  ground  that  the  city 
is  taking  property  without  compensation  or  without 
due  process  of  law.  The  city  has  lost  its  sovereignty; 
it  has  become  subordinate  to  a  thousand  property 
rights,  each  of  which  sacrifices  the  whole  to  its  indi- 
vidual selfish  desires.  And  we  cannot  have  a  city, 
we  cannot  build  for  comfort,  convenience,  joy,  until 


no  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

public  opinion  assumes  and  the  legislature  and  the 
courts  accept  the  assumption  that  the  claims  of  all 
people,  of  all  property,  of  all  business,  are  superior  to 
the  rights  and  claims  of  any  individual  property, 
business,  or  special  privilege. 


CHAPTER  VI 
CITIES  FOR  PEOPLE 

Everywhere  in  Europe  the  city  does  a  great  many 
things  which  we  leave  in  private  hands  or  neglect  to 
provide  altogether.  The  services  performed  are  con- 
stantly being  widened  to  reduce  the  costs  of  indus- 
try, of  poverty,  of  disease.  There  is  no  prejudice 
against  municipal  ownership,  scarcely  any  protest 
against  the  city  entering  on  new  activities  of  any 
kind.  That  distrust  of  public  enterprise  so  univer- 
sal in  this  country  and  England  has  never  existed 
on  the  Continent,  where  the  proper  limits  of  public 
activity  have  always  been  a  matter  of  expediency 
rather  than  of  principle.^  Nor  is  there  any  hard  and 
fast  line  between  those  natural  monopolies,  which 
many  people  in  this  country  admit  should  be  in 
public  hands,  and  industries  of  a  competitive,  non- 
monopolistic  character.  The  question  is  one  of  ex- 
pediency, of  what  will  be  best  for  the  community. 

'  The  official  attitude  of  German  cities  is  conservatively  indicated 
by  the  following  utterance  of  Doctor  Adickes,  Burgomaster  of  Frank- 
fort: 

"As  to  the  matter  of  the  proper  provinces  of  public  and  private 
undertakings,  we  have  already  mentioned  that  there  has  never  ex- 
isted among  us  that  predominance  of  private  corporations  in  the 
fields  of  the  necessities  of  hfe  which  is  the  case  in  London  and  other 
English  cities,  in  France  and  in  Belgium;  that,  on  the  contrary,  under- 
takings of  monopolistic  character  as  well  as  others  concerning  the 
welfare  of  all  the  citizens  have  from  the  beginning  been  in  the  control 

111 


112  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

This  is  more  true  of  Germany  than  of  any  European 
country.  And  to  our  point  of  view  the  German 
city  is  very  socialistic.  So  is  the  state.  So,  too, 
are  the  Austrian  and  to  some  extent  the  Itahan 
cities. 

All  this  is  the  more  remarkable  because  the  Ger- 
man city  is  governed  by  business  men.  They  consti- 
tute a  majority  of  the  council;  they  select  the  burgo- 
master and  the  magistrat.  And  the  business  men 
who  rule  the  German  cities  are  not  the  small  trades- 
men or  shopkeepers  as  in  Great  Britain.  They  are 
rather  the  men  of  large  affairs,  the  bankers,  manu- 
facturers, wholesale  and  retail  dealers.  They,  with 
the  professional  classes,  rule  the  city.  It  is  from  this 
class  that  the  council  is  recruited.  And  they  have 
taken  the  most  profitable  businesses  away  from  other 
business  men  because  it  was  good  business  for  the 
city  to  do  so. 

The  following  figures  of  the  fifty  largest  cities  in 
Great  Britain  and  Germany  show  the  extent  to  which 
ownership  has  been  carried  in  the  two  countries. 
The  figures  for  English  cities  are  taken  from  The 

of  the  cities.  It  is  well  known  that  the  process  of  municipalizing  is 
steadily  advancing,  and  the  only  problem  is  to  go  about  it  cautiously 
and  consistently  so  far  as  the  financial  and  other  conditions  of  the 
individual  cities  allow.  After  the  unfortunate  results  that  often 
followed  efforts  to  regulate  by  agreement  conditions  of  traffic,  and 
which  had  to  be  endured  a  long  time,  everyone  is  convinced  that 
municipal  ownership  and  operation  of  street  railways  best  serves 
pubhc  interests,  particularly  in  the  matter  of  city  expansion  and 
housing  regulation." — {Die  Sozialen  Aufgahen  der  Deutschen  Slaedte, 
p.  28.) 


CITIES  FOR  PEOPLE 


113 


Municipal  Year  Book  of  Great  Britain  for  1909,  and 
of  German  cities  from  The  Kommunales  Jahrhuch  of 
1908: 


In 

Great  Britain 

Own  Their  Own 

In 

Germany 

39 
21 
44 
42 
49 
44 
23 

Water  supply 

48 
50 
42 
23 
48 
50 
43 

Gas  supply 

Electricity  supply 

Tramways 

Baths 

Markets 

Slaughter-houses 

The  attitude  of  the  German  business  man  is  indi- 
cated by  the  comment  of  an  official  of  Berlin,  made  to 
a  group  of  Americans  who  were  being  entertained  by 
the  city  in  the  summer  of  1911.    He  said: 

"I  have  frequently  heard  American  business  men 
say  that  what  they  want  is  a  business  men's  govern- 
ment such  as  we  have  in  Germany.  Yet  your  busi- 
ness men  approve  of  giving  away  all  of  the  profital^le 
businesses  in  the  city  and  of  keeping  those  which 
are  unprofitable.  You  keep  your  sewers,  which  lose 
money,  and  give  away  your  street  railways,  which 
make  money.  You  own  your  streets  and  parks, 
which  are  unprofitable,  but  not  your  gas  and  electric 
lighting  works,  which  are  profitable.  New  York 
City  took  over  the  ferries  when  they  began  to  lose 
money  to  the  private  operators,  but  later  gave  away 
the  subways,  which  make  money.  We  think  that  is 
bad  business  in  Germany.  We  should  say  that  was 
not  a  business-like  administration.     We  keep  the 


114  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

profitable  along  with  the  unprofitable  businesses. 
I  fancy  your  business  men  would  go  bankrupt  if 
they  conducted  their  private  business  as  they  do 
their  cities.  Yet  I  have  never  heard  an  American 
business  man  protest  against  this  unbusiness-like 
policy." 

This  attitude  of  mind  is  held  by  all  classes.  There 
is  an  intelligent  discrimination  between  those  things 
which  should  be  public  and  those, which  should  be 
private.  Officials  and  citizens  appreciate  that  many 
things  must  be  done  by  the  state  to  insure  indus- 
trial freedom;  that  even  free  competition  is  out  of 
the  question  when  a  privileged  few  control  the  high- 
ways, the  resources,  the  raw  materials  of  produc- 
tion, as  well  as  such  local  undertakings  as  the 
public-service  corporations,  docks,  slaughter-houses, 
and  markets. 

Coupled  with  this  business  point  of  view  is  an- 
other motive  which  in  recent  years  has  come  to  in- 
spire the  activities  of  burgomasters  and  councillors; 
a  motive  expressed  by  Doctor  Albert  Siidekum,  of 
Berlin,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  municipal  ex- 
perts in  Germany,  a  member  of  the  Reichstag,  and 
the  editor  of  the  Kommunales  Jahrhuch.  Speaking  to 
the  American  group  referred  to  above,  he  said : 

"  City  administration  in  Germany  is  becoming  the 
science  of  community  living.  We  are  not  content 
alone  with  the  idea  of  efficiency,  of  honesty,  of  run- 
ning our  cities  as  a  business  man  runs  his  business. 


CITIES  FOR  PEOPLE  115 

We  have  grown  beyond  that  idea.  The  city  is  far 
more  than  a  business  affair.  It  is  much  more  than 
a  pohtical  agency.  It  is  an  agency  of  social  welfare 
with  unexhausted  possibilities.  Our  cities  are  tiying 
to  utilize  art  and  science,  the  improvements  of  steam 
and  electricity,  in  the  service  of  the  people.  We  are 
aiming  to  socialize  industry  and  knowledge  for  the 
common  good.  This  is  the  new  motive  of  municipal 
administration.  We  have  learned  by  experience  that 
this  can  only  be  done  when  the  community  itself 
controls  property  for  the  welfare  of  the  people." 

Cities  do  a  surprisingly  large  number  of  things. 
Hamburg  insures  all  property  against  fire,  insurance 
being  compulsory.  Premiums  are  paid  along  with 
the  local  taxes.  The  city  maintains  a  fire  depart- 
ment and  is  responsible  for  the  protection  of  property : 
why  should  it  not  enjoy  the  benefits  of  its  own  ex- 
penditure and  at  the  same  time  eliminate  the  waste 
of  solicitors,  of  competition,  and  perform  this  neces- 
sary social  service  for  the  protection  of  everybody 
at  cost? 

During  the  winter  of  1911  investigations  in  New 
York  disclosed  the  fact  that  public  bakeries  were 
located  in  cellars,  under  sidewalks,  in  the  most  un- 
sanitary places  possible.  Bread  was  being  baked  in 
the  midst  of  dirt,  filth,  and  close  by  dripping  sewage. 
The  conditions  discovered  were  almost  unprintable. 
In  Buda-Pest  it  was  found  that  the  private  bakeries 
had  combined  to  reduce  the  weight  of  the  loaf  of 
bread  and  increase  its  price.    To  meet  this  situa- 


116  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

tion  the  city  erected  a  public  bakery  and  prepared 
to  supply  the  entire  city.  Immediately  the  price  of 
bread  and  the  size  of  the  loaf  came  to  the  standard 
and  the  price  fixed  by  the  municipal  bakery. 

Nothing  contributes  so  much  to  the  low  cost  of 
living  in  Germany  as  the  universal  use  of  the  par- 
cels post.  It  is  operated  in  connection  with  the 
state-owned  railways,  and  is  used  by  business  men, 
farmers,  and  the  people  generally,  and  is  of  the 
greatest  conceivable  convenience  and  economy.  Al- 
most anything  can  be  mailed,  and  at  a  very  low  cost. 
The  consul-general  of  the  United  States  in  Ham- 
burg says  of  the  parcels  post:  "If  it  should  be  pro- 
posed in  Germany  to  abolish  the  parcels  post  (a 
most  unthinkable  proposition)  loud  complaint  would 
no  doubt  be  heard  from  the  people  of  the  small 
towns  and  the  farming  population,"  for  the  parcels 
post  makes  it  possible  for  the  farmer  to  visit  the 
city  once  a  year,  where  he  solicits  customers  whom  he 
supplies  directly  from  the  farm  just  as  regularly  as 
from  the  retail  shop  of  the  immediate  neighborhood. 

In  Great  Britain  the  same  is  true.  The  American 
consul  at  Cork  says  of  the  parcels  post: 

"Farmers,  merchants,  and  manufacturers  patron- 
ize extensively  this  means  of  communication  between 
the  markets  and  the  isolated  individual  consumer. 
For  instance,  the  farmer  at  Queenstown  can  order  a 
pound  of  tea  in  London  and  have  it  delivered  at 
Queenstown    for  six    cents.    So   the  merchant  in 


CITIES  FOR  PEOPLE  117 

London  can  order  a  pound  of  butter  of  the  farmer 
at  Queenstown  and  have  it  dehvered  at  his  residence 
by  parcels  post  for  the  same  price.  People  through- 
out the  rural  districts  generally  avail  themselves 
of  this  express  system  to  get  their  produce,  such  as 
that  of  farm  and  market  garden,  to  market.  Also 
dealers  in  fruit,  game,  fish,  eggs,  butter,  meat,  and 
such  commodities  generally  use  this  means  of 
speedily  reaching  their  customers  or  the  market." 

The  hausfrau  in  Germany  receives  her  fresh  vege- 
tables, her  poultry,  butter,  and  flowers  along  with 
her  mail  in  the  early  morning  delivery.  They 
come  fresh  to  her  table  from  the  country,  and  have 
been  posted  a  few  hours  earlier  possibly  a  hundred 
miles  away  in  a  country  village.  Farmers  come  to 
the  city  three  or  four  times  a  year  to  solicit  customers. 
A  postal-card  changes  the  standing  order.  All  Ger- 
many offers  itself  as  a  market  for  the  cities  without 
the  intervention  of  warehousemen,  wholesale  or  re- 
tail dealers,  or  cold-storage  plants.  There  is  no 
possibility  of  combination  or  monopoly.  There  is  no 
waste  in  handling  by  half  a  dozen  agents.  Producer 
and  consumer  meet  directly  through  the  parcels  post 
as  though  they  were  bartering  at  the  city  markets. 

Germany  protects  the  consumer  and  producer 
alike.  The  middle-men  are  eliminated,  and  the 
profits  and  waste  which  they  entail. 

The  slaughter-house  is  also  a  public  rather  than  a 
private  institution.  Of  the  fifty  largest  towns  in 
Germany  forty-three  own  their  abattoirs  and  require 


118  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

that  all  meat  sold  in  the  city  shall  be  slaughtered  in 
them.  In  almost  all  of  the  other  countries  of  Europe, 
as  well  as  in  South  America,  Egypt,  even  in  the  Far 
East,  the  private  slaughter-house  has  been  closed. 

Paris  has  had  pubhc  abattoirs  since  the  time  of 
the  first  Napoleon,  who  compelled  the  French  cities 
to  close  the  private  houses  and  erect  public  ones.  In 
Switzerland,  HoUand,  Denmark,  Austria,  Hungary, 
Russia,  and  Scandinavia  slaughtering  has  been  in 
public  hands  for  years. 

Public  slaughtering  is  required  as  a  sanitary  meas- 
ure, for  the  purpose  of  stamping  out  the  diseases  prev- 
alent in  cattle.  Only  by  public  inspection  can  the 
food  supply  be  protected.  These  were  the  original 
reasons  for  the  public  abattoir.  In  addition,  they 
protect  the  public  from  extortion.  The  food  supply 
of  the  people  is  too  important  to  be  left  in  private 
hands,  interested  only  in  pecuniary  profits.  Ger- 
many realizes  that  food  monopoly  has  a  direct  bear- 
ing on  poverty  and  industrial  efficiency.  So  the 
cities  cut  out  monopoly  as  far  as  possible  at  the  root. 
There  is  only  the  butcher  between  the  farmer  and 
the  housewife,  and  he  must  compete  with  another 
butcher  around  the  corner  as  well  as  with  the  mu- 
nicipal market  to  be  found  in  almost  every  city. 

Slaughtering  in  Germany  is  covered  by  an  im- 
perial law  and  code  of  rules  for  inspection  and  slaugh- 
tering which  went  into  effect  in  1903.  The  newer 
abattoirs  are  models  of  completeness  and  are  de- 


CITIES  FOR  PEOPLE  119 

signed  by  architects  with  a  spaciousness  and  beauty 
in  keeping  with  the  German  idea  of  pubHc  building. 
They  are  usually  of  brick  or  cement  and  are  so  lo- 
cated as  to  be  easily  accessible  to  the  railways  and 
water-ways,  and  are  united  with  a  cattle  market 
where  the  butchers  come  several  days  a  week  to 
make  their  purchases.  The  abattoirs  are  usually  in 
the  suburbs,  although  this  is  not  necessary,  for 
science  and  hygiene  have  made  such  progress  that 
the  abattoir  is  no  longer  a  nuisance.  The  slaughter- 
ing is  done  in  the  most  humane  way  possible,  under 
the  careful  supervision  of  experts  trained  for  the 
purpose,  while  the  veterinarians  who  inspect  the 
cattle  are  required  to  be  graduates  of  the  Ober-Real 
Gymnasium,  followed  by  a  four  years'  course  of 
study.  Inspectors  are  also  required  to  pass  an  ex- 
amination. The  public  abattoirs  are  self-sustaining, 
but  charges  are  fixed  at  the  point  which  will  pay 
operating  ex-penses  and  interest  on  the  money  in- 
vested. They  are  not  operated  as  a  means  of  profit. 
Dresden,  a  city  of  540,000  inhabitants,  finished 
an  immense  cattle  market  and  abattoir  in  1910  at  a 
cost  of  $4,260,000.  It  is  the  largest  and  most  com- 
pletely equipped  slaughter-house  in  Germany.  It 
covers  90  acres  of  land  and  includes  68  buildings. 
It  is  located  on  the  River  Elbe,  and  is  connected 
with  spurs  of  the  railways.  The  groups  of  buildings 
are  designed  as  a  unit  and  form  a  suburban  com- 
munity in  themselves.    The  material  is  cement  with 


120  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

roadways  between  them  of  the  same  material,  all 
so  arranged  as  to  be  easily  cleaned  by  flushing 
machines.  The  most  fastidious  woman  could  visit 
the  abattoir,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  visitors  are  en- 
couraged to  come  as  a  means  of  insuring  cleanliness. 
The  gates  through  which  one  enters  are  like  those  of 
a  pubHc  park.  Everything  bears  the  mark  of  the 
architect  and  the  artist  in  the  designing.  On  the 
right  as  one  enters  is  the  residence  of  the  director. 
On  the  left  is  a  spacious  hotel  with  a  restaurant  and 
the  post-office.  The  restaurant  is  finished  with  artis- 
tic wood-work  and  frescoed  ceilings. 

Six  thousand  head  of  cattle  had  been  killed  the 
day  before  I  was  there.  Yet  the  place  had  the  ap- 
pearance of  "Spotless  Town."  To  the  market  in 
connection  with  the  abattoir  all  the  cattle,  sheep,  and 
hogs  for  the  city's  use  must  be  brought.  Here  they 
are  inspected  for  tuberculosis  and  other  diseases. 

In  the  slaughter-houses  of  Berlin  657  persons  are 
employed,  including  one  director,  47  veterinary  sur- 
geons, 15  assistant  veterinary  surgeons,  121  male  mi- 
croscopists,  and  120  female  microscopists.  There  are 
two  great  establishments,  one  on  each  side  of  the 
city,  transacting  a  business  which  was  formerly 
done  in  nearly  1,000  private  slaughter-houses.  The 
original  cost  of  the  slaughter-house  was  approxi- 
mately $5,000,000.  The  service  is  performed  more 
cheaply  than  under  the  old  system,  while  consumers 
are  protected  in  every  possible  way.    The  total  value 


CITIES  FOR  PEOPLE  121 

of  the  cattle  and  other  animals  slaughtered  in  1905 
amounted  to  $55,000,000. 

In  Italy,  every  town  of  more  than  6,000  inhabi- 
tants is  required  to  build  and  maintain  its  own 
slaughter-house  to  which  all  cattle  must  be  brought. 
The  slaughtering  is  done  by  individual  butchers. 
The  city  provides  the  building,  keeps  it  clean,  and 
furnishes  veterinary  inspectors  to  conduct  the  exam- 
inations. Even  in  Russia  the  laws  require  that  all 
animals  for  food  purposes  must  be  slaughtered  at  the 
city  abattoir.  These  laws  have  been  in  force  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century. 

The  public  market  is  universal  in  Europe  and  has 
been  for  centuries.  It,  too,  curtails  the  cost  of  liv- 
ing. The  market-place  was  the  centre  about  which 
the  mediaeval  town  was  organized.  It  was  close  by 
the  city  hall,  which  even  to-day,  in  many  cities,  fronts 
upon  it.  The  market-places  of  Brussels,  Frankfort, 
Bremen,  and  many  other  cities  form  a  kind  of  civic 
centre.  They  are  surrounded  by  the  old  guild  halls, 
which  are  still  preserved  in  their  original  style  of 
architecture.  Here  markets  are  held  in  the  open  un- 
der awnings  or  umbrellas,  which  are  cleared  away 
in  the  middle  of  the  day. 

Almost  all  of  the  European  cities  have  erected 
spacious  retail  market  buildings,  so  distributed  as  to 
serve  every  section  of  the  city.  There  are  also  nu- 
merous other  markets  in  the  streets  and  open  spaces 
which  are  used  in  the  morning  hours.    In  Vienna 


122  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

there  are  seven  enclosed  market  buildings  and  forty 
open-air  market-places.  The  articles  sold  are  pro- 
visions and  agricultural  products  as  well  as  other 
commodities  of  general  use.  The  city  authorities 
determine  the  distribution  of  market-places  among 
dealers,  and  what  wares  may  be  sold.  Locations  are 
assigned  according  to  priority  of  application.  Care- 
ful supervision  is  maintained  to  prevent  misleading 
or  fraudulent  statements  relative  to  the  contents  of 
packages,  while  any  wares  exhibited  of  an  unsani- 
tary character  are  confiscated  and  destroyed.  A 
high  standard  of  cleanliness  is  maintained.  As  the 
railroads  are  in  public  hands,  they  are  so  operated 
as  to  facilitate  the  widest  possible  usefulness  of  the 
market.  The  fees  are  fixed  according  to  business  and 
location.  The  total  receipts  of  all  the  Vienna  mar- 
kets in  1906  were  $382,508,  and  the  expenditures 
$321,412. 

The  city  of  Antwerp  maintains  nineteen  open 
squares  and  places  where  markets  are  held,  and  two 
covered  markets.  One  can  find  almost  anything  in 
the  Belgian  market,  from  vegetables,  meat,  and  fish, 
to  second-hand  books,  old  clothes,  furniture,  and 
other  household  goods.  All  contracts  for  the  use  of 
market  space  are  supervised  by  the  municipality  to 
protect  the  consumer  from  extortion.  The  markets 
of  Brussels  are  very  elaborate.  They  are  built  of 
steel,  and  are  light  and  well  ventilated.  In  addition, 
there  are  a  large  number  of  open-air  markets. 


CITIES  FOR  PEOPLE  123 

The  market  system  of  the  city  of  Paris  is  one  of 
the  most  extensive  and  best-administered  institutions 
of  its  kind  in  Europe.  The  central  or  wholesale 
market  is  a  large  establishment  located  near  the 
Louvre,  and  known  as  the  Holies  Centrales.  It  con- 
sists of  ten  pavilions  and  open  structures,  partly 
covered  by  a  roof,  the  entire  market  occupying 
twenty-two  acres  of  land.  The  total  cost  of  the  cen- 
tral market  and  the  ground  was  about  $10,000,000. 
Produce  is  brought  to  the  central  market  by  railroad, 
by  boats,  and  by  vans;  it  is  classified,  inspected,  and 
then  sold  by  auction  or  by  bargain  and  sale  to  re- 
tailers and  consumers  in  the  city.  The  central 
market  is  almost  exclusively  a  wholesale  market. 
Distributed  throughout  the  city  are  thirty-three 
smaller  retail  markets  which  are  supplied  through 
the  central  market  or  by  direct  communication  with 
the  farmers. 

Underneath  the  markets  proper  are  great  cellars 
in  which  produce  can  be  temporarily  stored.  This  is 
a  kind  of  cold-storage  warehouse  under  public  ad- 
ministration. There  is  careful  oversight  to  prevent 
unwholesome  foods  being  sold  and  to  check  combina- 
tion or  extortion  among  dealers.  The  total  revenue 
from  the  system  of  central  and  local  markets  in  1906 
was  $1,817,164,  and  the  total  expenses  $318,923, 
leaving  a  profit  of  $1,498,241. 

The  permanent  markets  of  Berlin  are  of  recent 
construction,  the  first  market  hall  having  been  built 


124  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

in  1886.  There  are  now  14  city  markets  in  sub- 
stantial buildings,  and  so  located  as  most  easily  to 
distribute  the  incoming  farm  produce  of  the  rail- 
ways, river,  and  canal-ways  to  the  retail  dealers  and 
consumers  of  the  city.  The  markets  are  used  for 
the  sale  of  food  of  all  kinds,  of  household  necessities, 
as  well  as  the  cheaper  kinds  of  cloth,  crockery,  and 
every  kind  of  farm  produce.  There  is  an  immense 
central  market  as  a  distributing  agency  for  the  smaller 
markets  in  which  produce  is  sold  in  bulk  by  auction 
or  otherwise.^ 

*An  exhaustive  study  of  municipal  markets  and  slaughter- 
houses in  Europe  has  been  made  by  the  Department  of  Commerce 
and  Labor  of  Washington,  and  is  found  in  Special  Consular  Reports, 
vol.  XLII. 


CHAPTER  VII 
PROTECTING  THE  WORKER 

Germany  is  free  from  the  individualistic  point  of 
view  that  characterizes  America,  an  individuaHsm 
which  resents  any  interference  with  the  right  of  the 
strong  to  exploit  the  weak.  There  is  little  of  that  in- 
difference to  the  vicarious  costs  of  industry,  to  the 
sickness,  accidents,  and  human  wreckage  which  fol- 
low in  the  trail  of  our  failure  to  protect  the  weaker 
classes.  This  attitude  of  mind  is  indicated  in  the 
opening  paragraph  of  a  report  issued  by  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce  of  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  which 
says: 

"The  'Manchester  School'  has  had  its  day,  and 
since  it  had  full  sway,  a  great  change  has  come 
over  the  civilized  nations,  marked  by  an  increased 
influence  of  the  governments  at  the  expense  of  in- 
dividualism. 

"Slowly  at  first,  but  then  in  ever  increasing  meas- 
ure, mankind  realized  that  the  doctrine  of  'laisser 
faire,'  4aisser  passer'  was  a  vicious  one,  and  that  the 
Darwinian  tenet  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  should 
not  apply  to  human  beings.  True  enough,  this 
knowledge  did  not  emerge  from  purely  altruistic  mo- 
tives, but  was  a  result  of  the  conviction  that  the  road 
with  the  finger-post  inscriptions,  'Elbow-room  for 

125 


126  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

everybody/  and  'Everybody  for  himself  and  the 
devil  take  the  hindmost'  was  a  short  one  leading 
nowhere. 

"It  had  become  obvious  to  leaders  of  men,  like 
Bismarck  and  Gladstone,  that  the  new  methods  of 
modern  machinery  and  large  capital  had  created 
forms  of  employment  miknown  before,  that  huge 
urban  agglomerations  had  been  called  into  existence, 
and  that  the  national  agriculture  of  Old  World 
countries  like  France,  England  and  Germany  was 
being  exposed  to  a  great  strain  by  the  competition 
of  the  virgin  soils  of  new  lands. 

"Furthermore,  the  new  conditions  in  industry, 
commerce,  and  agriculture  had  brought  about  a 
change  in  the  personal  relations  between  employer 
and  employed ;  the  formerly  patriarchal  relations  be- 
came impersonal  in  proportion  as  the  numbers  of 
workmen  and  other  employees  increased.  Great  por- 
tions of  the  population  saw  themselves  helpless  and 
shelterless  in  case  of  death,  disaster  and  disease. 
Germany  was  the  first  state  to  recognize  the  threat- 
ening danger,  and,  in  order  to  minimize  it,  adopted 
the  system  of  compulsor}^  insurance.  Prince  Bis- 
marck and  his  imperial  master,  William  I,  were  the 
prime  movers  in  this  great  legislative  work,  but  I 
think  it  is  only  just  to  mention  that  certain  elemen- 
tary forms  of  taking  care  of  those  in  distress  existed 
before,  and  not  only  in  Germany." 

A  similar  attitude  animates  officials  in  their  efforts 
to  promote  the  well-being  of  the  working-classes. 
Cities  have  worked  out  a  programme  of  human  con- 
servation based  on  a  realization  of  the  helplessness 
of  the  individual  under  modern  industrial  conditions. 
The  worker  is  no  longer  able  to  protect  himself,  to 


PROTECTING  THE  WORKER  127 

choose  his  own  employment;  to  be  a  free  agent,  as  he 
was  a  hundred  years  ago.  He  has  become  an  insig- 
nificant factor  in  a  social  machine  which  ruthlessly 
crushes  those  who  serve  it  in  the  cruel,  competitive 
life  which  the  industrial  cHy  has  created.  Germany 
has  officially  recognized  these  facts,  and  some  years 
ago  the  Minister  of  the  Interior,  speaking  in  the 
Reichstag,  outlined  the  policy  of  Germany  as  well 
as  of  her  cities  in  these  matters.  He  said:  "If  Ger- 
many has  experienced  a  vast  industrial  expansion 
equalled  by  no  other  country  in  the  world  during 
the  same  time,  it  is  chiefly  due  to  the  efficiency  of 
its  workers.  But  this  efficiency  must  inevitably  have 
suffered  had  we  not  secured  to  our  working-classes 
by  the  social  legislation  of  recent  years  a  tolerable 
standard  of  life,  and  had  we  not  as  far  as  was  possible 
guaranteed  their  physical  health." 

The  workman  is  trained  to  be  a  good  mechanic, 
he  is  insured  against  accident,  sickness,  and  old  age; 
he  is  protected  from  the  careless  employer,  and  is 
watched  over  in  a  variety  of  ways.  When  hard 
times  or  industrial  depression  throw  him  out  of  work, 
employment  is  provided  for  him.  When  seeking  em- 
ployment in  other  cities,  a  lodging  is  offered  to  pre- 
vent his  passing  into  the  vagrant  class.  When  sick, 
he  is  cared  for  in  wonderful  convalescent  homes, 
tuberculosis  hospitals,  and  farm  colonies.  And  when 
old  age  removes  him  from  the  factory,  a  pension 
awaits  him  as  a  slight  mark  of  appreciation  from  so- 


128  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

ciety,  which  has  taken  in  his  labor  all  that  his  life 
had  to  offer  and  has  given  him  only  a  bare  sub- 
sistence wage  in  return. 

It  is  estimated  that  30;  000  men  are  killed  each 
year  in  America  in  industrial  employments,  while 
500,000  more  are  seriously  injured.  Up  to  very  re- 
cently we  have  made  but  little  effort  to  shield  the 
worker  from  these  dangers.  We  compel  him  and  his 
dependent  family  to  bear  the  burdens  of  his  acci- 
dent. He  has  the  choice  between  a  beggarly  settle- 
ment from  his  employer  or  an  exhausting  and  costly 
litigation  with  the  possibility  of  defeat  in  the  end. 

Germany  thinks  human  life  is  too  valuable  to  be 
destroyed  in  this  way.  And  Germany  throws  the 
cost  of  human  accidents  onto  society  itself,  just  as 
it  does  the  wear  and  tear  or  depreciation  of  machin- 
ery. The  worker  and  his  dependents  are  given  com- 
pensation for  injuries  without  the  delays,  uncertain- 
ties, and  costs  of  a  court  trial.  Compensation  is  paid 
as  a  matter  of  course  on  a  fixed  scale  established  by 
law. 

Insurance  is  compulsory  against  accident,  sickness, 
invalidity,  and  old  age.  In  1909,  out  of  a  population 
of  63,879,000,  about  13,385,000  persons,  of  whom 
10,000,000  were  males,  were  insured  in  this  way 
against  sickness  by  23,449  sick  funds.  The  number 
insured  against  accident  was  about  23,767,000,  of 
whom  one-third  were  women.  Invalidity  insurance 
covered  about  15,444,000  persons.    The  income  col- 


II 


PROTECTING  THE  WORKER  129 

lected  for  all  these  forms  of  insurance  amounted  to 
$214,856,650,  of  which  the  employers  contributed 
$98,312,000,  and  the  employees  $81,414,000.  The 
states  and  the  interest  earnings  added  $35,194,945 
more.  The  cost  of  the  invalidity  and  old-age  insur- 
ance is  shared  by  the  wage-earner,  the  employer,  and 
the  state,  while  insurance  against  accident  is  borne 
by  the  employer.  The  disbursements  of  the  various 
funds  amounted  to  $167,592,770,  of  which  the  sick- 
ness insurance  amounted  to  $82,762,450,  the  accident 
insurance  to  $39,461,155,  and  the  invalidity  insurance 
to  $45,369,165.  In  addition  to  the  above  nearly 
$50,000,000  is  to  be  added  for  the  insurance  of  pub- 
lic servants  and  $50,000,000  more  for  private  servants. 

Insurance  against  sickness  has  been  provided  since 
1884.  It  is  provided  for  almost  all  industrial  workers 
whose  wages  are  below  $500  a  year.  The  sick  insur- 
ance funds  are  of  several  kinds:  some  provided  by 
the  community  for  all  the  trades  within  their  limits, 
some  by  the  large  industries  which  maintain  funds 
of  their  own.  All  of  the  insurance  funds  provide  for 
free  medical  attendance  and  supplies,  as  well  as  for 
sick  pay  from  the  third  day  of  illness. 

The  insurance  amounts  to  about  one-half  the  daily 
wages  received  by  the  insured  or  of  the  amount  upon 
which  his  assessment  is  fixed.  Sick  benefits  continue 
for  not  more  than  twenty-six  weeks,  after  which  time, 
if  the  illness  continues,  the  burden  is  transferred  to 
the  accident  insurance  fund.    The  administration  of 


130  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

these  funds  is  partly  in  the  hands  of  the  working 
people  themselves  through  a  board  chosen  by  the 
employers  and  the  employees.  The  accident  insur- 
ance fund  covers  substantially  the  same  classes  as 
does  the  sickness  insurance,  and  the  method  of  ad- 
ministration is  substantially  the  same. 

Every  employer  is  bound  to  provide  insurance 
against  accident.  Upon  opening  a  factory  he  be- 
comes a  member  of  a  trade  association  which  covers 
his  business,  and  is  bound  to  contribute  to  the  in- 
surance fund.  The  fund  is  managed  by  an  ex- 
ecutive board,  which  has  power  to  classify  trades 
and  fix  the  schedule  of  premiums  for  risks.  The 
board  has  power  to  enforce  rules  and  compel  the 
introduction  of  appliances  for  protection  against  ac- 
cident, and  if  a  member  refuses  to  make  the  changes 
ordered,  he  may  be  fined  for  neglect  or  his  insurance 
premiums  increased. 

The  benefits  to  be  paid  for  accident  are  not  left 
to  tedious  and  costly  judicial  inquiry.  There  is  no 
expense  or  delay.  Even  though  the  employee  is  neg- 
ligent he  is  entitled  to  compensation,  unless  there  is 
evidence  that  he  intentionally  brought  the  accident 
on  himself. 

Insignificant  contributions  from  these  millions  of 
insured  have  created  immense  reserves  like  those  of 
the  private  insurance  companies  in  America.  But 
while  the  insurance  premiums  in  this  country  have 
been  used  to  promote  monopoly,  to  add  mine  to 


PROTECTING  THE  WORKER  131 

mine  and  railroad  to  railroad,  and  through  monopoly 
to  levy  tribute  upon  the  people,  the  insurance  re- 
serves in  Germany  are  used  to  promote  human  wel- 
fare, to  house  the  people,  to  improve  their  health, 
to  save  human  waste.  Millions  have  been  loaned  to 
individual  workmen,  co-operative  societies,  and  mu- 
nicipalities for  the  building  of  workmen's  houses, 
suburban  colonies,  and  apartments,  as  described  else- 
where. Millions  more  are  used  in  the  war  against 
disease.  Every  large  city  of  250,000  inhabitants 
has  wonderful  hospitals,  convalescent  homes,  and 
sanatoriums,  which  have  been  buUt  largely  by  the  aid 
of  the  insurance  funds  to  minimize  insurance  losses 
by  preventing  disease.  The  hospitals  in  Germany 
are  almost  all  pubUc,  and  the  last  ten  years  have 
witnessed  the  erection  of  probably  the  finest  in- 
stitutions for  the  care  of  the  sick  and  injured  in  the 
world. 

It  was  found  that  tuberculosis  was  responsible  for 
15  per  cent,  of  the  insurance  allowances  to  males, 
and  this  led  to  the  organization  of  a  systematic  war 
against  it.  A  chain  of  sanatoriums  was  established 
in  the  important  cities,  of  which  in  1911  there  were 
99.  In  1897  there  were  only  3,334  wage-earners 
provided  for  by  institutional  treatment;  in  1909 
this  number  had  grown  to  42,232.  In  twelve  years' 
time  272,000  patients  had  been  treated  and  cared 
for  in  these  institutions.  The  expenditure  for  this 
purpose  shows  an  equally  rapid  increase.    In  1897 


132  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

it  was  $243,833,  while  in  1909  it  had  risen  to 
$3,880,261. 

As  a  result  of  this  campaign  the  death-rate  from 
tuberculosis  has  fallen  from  23.08  per  10,000  during 
the  four  years  from  1895  to  1899,  to  18.45  per  10,000 
during  the  period  from  1905  to  1909.^ 

Berlin  has  recently  erected  the  Virchow  Hospital 
in  the  outskirts  of  the  city,  which  is  the  most  com- 
plete hospital  I  have  ever  visited.  At  Buch,  an  old 
people's  home  has  been  built  on  the  detached  cottage 
style,  which  is  a  generation  in  advance  of  the  alms- 
houses in  this  country.  An  open-air  farm  colony  for 
inebriates  is  connected  with  it.  The  buildings  are 
of  great  architectural  beauty;  they  are  surrounded 
by  parkage,  and  have  every  modern  appliance  for 
the  study  and  prevention  of  disease.  Reference  has 
been  made  to  the  hygienic  exposition  held  in  Dres- 
den in  1911  which  contained  exhibits  from  all  over 
Germany,  showing  the  hospitals,  sanatoriums,  and 

^  "The  marvellous  results  achieved  in  the  German  Empire  through 
the  intelligent  coordination  of  public  and  private  agencies  enlisted  in 
the  effort  to  reduce  the  mortality  from  tuberculosis  to  a  minimum 
entitles  the  German  experiment,  as  the  first  and  most  successful  of 
its  kind,  to  the  admiration  of  the  entire  civilized  world.  Whether 
what  has  been  done  has  paid  for  itself  in  a  strict  financial  sense  is 
wholly  secondary  to  the  social  results  which  have  been  achieved,  and 
which  have  unquestionably  conferred  an  infinite  amount  of  good 
upon  the  German  people  engaged  in  German  industry  in  successful 
competition  with  the  economically  more  advantageously  situated 
wage-earners  of  many  other  lands.  From  the  social,  economic,  and 
medical  points  of  view  the  treatment  and  care  of  tuberculous  wage- 
earners  in  Germany  is  a  subject  well  deserving  of  intelligent  and 
sympathetic  study  as  a  distinct  contribution  to  the  civihzation  of 
the  present  time." — {Care  of  Tuberculous  Wage-Earners  in  Germany, 
Bulletin  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Labor,  Washington,  1912.) 


PROTECTING  THE  WORKER  133 

other  institutions  for  the  care  of  sick  and  dependent 
classes. 

At  BeeHtz,  some  miles  out  of  Berlin,  a  tubercu- 
losis sanitarium  has  been  built  which  contains  beds 
for  2,000  patients.  It  is  located  in  a  great  pine 
forest  of  several  hundred  acres  in  extent  and  sug- 
gests a  garden  colony  rather  than  a  hospital.  This 
hospital  was  built  and  is  maintained  out  of  the 
national  insurance  funds.  In  1906  the  expenses 
were  about  $349,000  for  the  care  of  more  than 
4,000  patients  who  received  treatment. 

Provision  is  also  made  to  protect  the  man  out  of 
work.  Scattered  all  over  the  empire,  in  every  city 
of  any  size,  are  labor  registries  or  exchanges,  main- 
tained partly  by  public  and  partly  by  private  agen- 
cies. There  are  upward  of  400  of  such  bureaus  in 
the  empire.  Each  year  they  find  places  for  approx- 
imately 1,000,000  men  and  women  in  all  kinds  of 
employments.  These  labor  exchanges  aim  to  mini- 
mize the  waste  involved  in  unemployment.  They 
are  great  clearing-houses  for  capital  and  labor. 
When  the  labor  market  is  congested  in  one  place, 
the  exchange  distributes  labor  to  some  other  section 
where  it  is  needed.  An  attempt  is  being  made  to 
utilize  these  agencies  for  satisfying  the  periodic  de- 
mand for  men  upon  the  farms  during  the  harvesting 
season. 

I  visited  the  exchange  in  Berlin,  the  largest  in 
the  empire.    It  secures  positions  for  approximately 


134  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

120,000  persons  each  year.  It  has  been  in  existence 
for  twenty-five  years,  and  is  maintained  at  a  cost  of 
$25,000  a  year,  of  which  the  city  pays  $10,000,  and 
the  fees  the  balance.  It  occupies  a  large  four-story 
building  in  the  heart  of  Berlin.  There  is  a  separate 
entrance  for  women  on  one  street  and  for  men  on 
the  other.  In  the  centre  of  the  building  is  a  great 
hall  capable  of  seating  1,400  persons,  while  smaller 
halls  accommodate  the  skilled  artisans  and  women 
in  another  part  of  the  building.  There  were  prob- 
ably 600  men  waiting  to  be  called  when  I  was 
there.  They  did  not  suggest  vagrants  or  tramps. 
They  were  clean,  self-respecting,  and  robust.  The 
men  sat  in  groups  according  to  their  employment. 
When  a  request  was  received  over  the  telephone  or 
by  mail,  the  men  were  called  to  the  desk  in  the  order 
of  their  registry,  and  the  position  explained  to  them. 
Priority  is  given  to  the  married  men  in  the  assign- 
ments. 

On  one  side  of  the  great  hall  is  a  buffet  where 
beer  and  food  are  sold  at  a  trifling  sum.  There  are 
tailors  and  cobblers  connected  with  the  registry,  who 
repair  clothes  and  shoes  at  an  insignificant  charge. 
Checkers,  dominos,  and  chess  are  played  by  the 
men  while  they  wait  in  the  hall.  The  exchange 
suggests  a  huge  workingman's  club  rather  than 
an  employment  agency  such  as  those  of  New 
York  or  Chicago.  There  are  shower-baths  in  the 
building  which  are  generally  used,  while  a  free  dis- 


PROTECTING  THE  WORKER  135 

pensary  and  medical  inspection  bureau  are  also 
offered. 

Many  cities  also  maintain  a  unique  institution  to 
enable  workmen  to  find  apartments  at  the  least  pos- 
sible loss  of  time.  House-owners  report  to  the  agency, 
which  investigates  the  premises  as  to  its  character 
and  cleanliness,  and  from  descriptive  cards  the 
workman  can  select  with  little  loss  of  time  a  place 
adjusted  to  his  purse  and  his  needs.  In  some  cities 
this  plan  has  found  so  much  favor  that  renting  by 
advertisement  in  the  newspapers  has  been  practically 
abandoned.  The  house  registry  is  a  great  boon  to  the 
workman,  employed  as  he  is  all  day  at  his  job,  and 
frequently  compelled  to  accept  the  first  apartment 
that  offers,  no  matter  how  badly  located  it  may  be. 

Germany  also  makes  provision  for  the  wandering 
worker,  for  the  artisan  out  of  employment  seeking  a 
job.  There  is  no  assumption  that  a  man  out  of  em- 
ployment is  a  suspicious  character,  a  semi-criminal 
to  be  arrested  because  he  has  no  visible  means  of 
support.  He  is  not  placed  under  arrest  because  of 
his  poverty,  as  is  the  practice  in  many  of  our  cities. 
Rather  the  community  recognizes  that  men  are  com- 
pelled by  necessity  to  change  their  employment.  So 
the  cities  and  private  agencies  maintain  lodging- 
houses  or  herbergen.  In  1904  there  were  462  of  these 
lodging-houses  in  Germany,  which  contained  20,000 
beds.  They  lodge  over  2,000,000  persons  a  year,  of 
whom  the  majority  are  paying  guests. 


136  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

In  order  to  secure  admission  to  the  herbergen  the 
worker  must  produce  a  passport  showing  that  he  has 
been  at  work.  For  the  sum  of  twelve  cents  he  re- 
ceives lodging  and  breakfast,  or  he  can  work  for 
four  hours  for  them.  The  rule  of  the  herbergen  is, 
"morning  work,  afternoon  walk."  The  work  is  usu- 
ally of  a  simple  kind,  such  as  chopping  wood.  These 
institutions  have  been  so  widely  developed  in  south 
Germany  that  vagrancy  has  almost  disappeared. 

In  connection  with  the  herbergen,  branches  of  mu- 
nicipal savings-banks  are  frequently  maintained, 
while  labor  exchanges  are  in  close  contact  with  them. 
Through  the  herbergen  and  the  labor  exchange  the 
self-respect  of  the  worker  is  kept  ahve.  He  is  pre- 
vented from  falling  into  the  tramp  and  vagrant  class, 
and  is  found  employment  as  speedily  as  possible  in 
the  job  for  which  he  is  best  fitted. 

None  of  these  agencies,  however,  are  able  to  cope 
with  industrial  or  seasonal  trade  depressions.  They 
cannot  create  employment  and  do  not  attempt  to 
do  so.  ]Many  cities  recognize  that  the  worker  has  a 
right  to  be  protected  from  hard  times  and  saved 
from  the  demoralizing  influence  of  non-employment. 
"Distress  work"  is  quite  generally  provided  by  cities 
during  the  winter  as  well  as  during  hard  times.  Cit- 
ies do  not  recognize  the  "right  to  work,"  but  they 
provide  work  in  considerable  measure,  nevertheless. 
Contractors  are  also  required  to  employ  local  men, 
so  as  to  relieve  local  expenditure  for  charity.    The 


PROTECTING  THE  WORKER  137 

distress  work  is  not  of  the  best;  but  cities  recognize 
that  it  is  far  less  expensive  than  to  permit  the  worker 
to  develop  the  habit  of  shiftlessness  and  fall  into  the 
wreckage  of  vagabonds,  tramps,  and  semi-criminals, 
who  are  the  inevitable  product  of  every  period  of 
hard  times. 

This  sense  of  community  responsibility  for  the 
workers  is  not  confined  to  Germany.  In  Switzer- 
land, according  to  the  American  Consul,  R.  E.  Mans- 
field, of  Zurich: 

"The  indigent  unemployed  are  dealt  with  as  an 
economic  question.  The  Swiss  act  upon  the  theory 
that  the  man  who  is  unemployed  is,  if  left  to  himself, 
prone  to  become  unemployable;  and  that  for  a  com- 
munity to  allow  any  one  of  its  members  capable  of 
work  to  remain  unemployed  is  public  waste,  for  the 
reason  that,  as  soon  as  he  becomes  a  subject  of  char- 
ity, he  is  a  tax  upon  the  community,  which  has  to 
support  not  only  the  individual  but  also  those  depend- 
ent upon  him.  The  purpose  is  to  assist  the  unfort- 
unate unemployed  to  secure  work,  not  only  for  the 
sake  of  the  individual  but  also  in  the  interests  of  the 
state;  to  prevent  his  becoming  a  tax  upon  the  com- 
munity instead  of  a  source  of  income — a  consumer, 
instead  of  a  producer. 

"In  industrial  Switzerland  there  is  no  place  for  the 
idle.  It  is  considered  the  duty  of  the  authorities  to 
assist  in  every  way  possible  persons  honestly  seeking 
employment,  and  it  is  also  held  to  be  their  duty  to 
punish  the  work  shirker  and  to  force  him  to  earn  his 
bread  before  he  may  eat  it."  ^ 

» Daily  Consular  and  Trade  Reports,  March  8,  1912. 


138  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

Begging  is  not  permitted;  nor  is  vagrancy.  In 
some  cantons  a  system  of  insurance  against  unem- 
ployment has  been  developed,  by  which  persons  who 
contribute  a  small  sum  per  month  are  guaranteed 
work  or  are  paid  a  weekly  indemnity  during  the 
period  of  their  non-employment.  Unemployment  in- 
surance, however,  has  not  yet  been  perfected  because 
of  the  difficulties  of  administration.  Employment 
agencies  are  also  maintained  by  the  cities  and  the 
federal  government.  Through  these  agencies  nearly 
50,000  places  a  year  are  filled.  Of  these  about  one- 
quarter  are  women. 

Pawn-shops  {Leihduser)  are  public  institutions  in 
Germany,  and  have  been  for  centuries.  The  loan 
shark  is  put  out  of  business  by  public  competition 
rather  than  by  the  regulation  of  interest  rates  or 
spasmodic  criminal  proceedings.  The  pawn-shops 
are  administered  by  the  city  on  a  business  basis,  the 
rate  of  interest  being  from  1  to  2  per  cent,  a  month, 
depending  on  the  amount  of  the  loan.  Loans  are 
made  on  jewelry,  wearing  apparel,  household  goods, 
books,  or  other  articles  of  general  use.  Many  small 
tradesmen  use  the  pawn-shop  as  a  bank  of  discount. 
They  place  their  imseasonable  goods  in  pledge  until 
they  are  needed. 

The  municipal  pawn-shops  of  Nuremberg,  Ham- 
burg, and  Augsburg  date  from  the  seventeenth  cent- 
ury. Those  of  Dresden,  Munich,  Frankfort,  and 
Breslau  are  more  than  a  hundred  years  old.    Almost 


PROTECTING  THE  WORKER  139 

all  the  cities  maintain  them  as  an  aid  to  people  in 
distress. 

The  pawn-shop  at  Frankfort  employs  a  director 
and  twenty  clerks  and  appraiseis.  It  occupies  thirty- 
four  rooms  as  well  as  a  number  of  warehouses.  In 
1908  loans  to  the  amount  of  $300,000  were  made  by 
the  city. 

Savings-banks  to  encourage  thrift  among  the  poor 
are  found  in  almost  every  city.  They  have  been 
maintained  for  generations  and  are  universally  used. 
In  most  of  the  large  towns  the  number  of  depositors 
exceeds  the  total  number  of  families,  and  in  some 
cities  there  are  twice  as  many  depositors  as  house- 
holds. The  rate  of  interest  paid  is  generally  3  per 
cent.,  the  funds  being  invested  for  the  most  part  in 
public  securities  of  unquestioned  stability.  Branch 
offices  are  scattered  all  over  the  city  to  encourage 
their  use  as  widely  as  possible.  The  banks  are  ad- 
ministered by  the  city  officials  at  practically  no  ex- 
pense to  the  depositors,  the  aim  being  to  pay  as  high 
a  rate  of  interest  as  possible. 

In  many  countries  special  courts  have  been  created 
for  the  settlement  of  disputes  between  employers  and 
employees,  as  well  as  for  the  arbitration  of  contro- 
versies. These  courts  are  made  as  easy  of  approach 
as  possible,  the  procedure  being  very  simple  and  in- 
formal. The  decisions  are  speedy.  The  court  fees  are 
reduced  to  a  minimum,  and  the  employment  of  law- 
yers is  discouraged.    In  some  cases  lawyers  are  not 


140  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

permitted  to  appear  at  all,  the  litigants  themselves 
being  called  before  the  court  to  state  their  case.  The 
constant  effort  is  to  settle  disputes  without  contro- 
versy, and  a  large  percentage  of  them  are  so  disposed 
of.  The  court  is  made  up  of  employers  and  em- 
ployees rather  than  of  trained  lawyers,  each  class 
electing  its  own  representative.  If  a  deadlock  oc- 
curs a  justice  from  one  of  the  minor  courts  is  called 
in  to  give  the  deciding  vote.  In  a  majority  of  cases 
controversies  are  settled  at  the  first  hearing  and  usu- 
ally within  a  few  weeks  from  the  bringing  of  the 
action.  In  Germany,  in  1908  only  267  cases  lasted 
more  than  three  months.  In  France  the  judges  are 
subject  to  a  penalty  if  the  case  is  not  disposed  of 
within  four  months.  In  Zurich,  in  1909,  there  were 
941  cases  settled  without  judgment,  of  which  768 
were  disposed  of  in  less  than  eight  days  after  com- 
plaint had  been  filed. 

In  France  there  are  no  fees  at  all  if  the  case  in- 
volves less  than  twenty  francs.  In  Germany  no  fees 
are  charged  if  the  parties  reach  a  voluntary  agree- 
ment, while  if  a  judgment  is  rendered  the  fees  are 
graded  according  to  the  amount  involved.  In  dis- 
putes involving  more  than  $24,  the  fees  range 
from  twenty-five  cents  to  seventy-five  cents.  These 
courts  are  widely  used  and  command  the  confidence 
of  the  employees,  rather  more  than  of  the  employers, 
who  find  that  judgments  are  more  frequently  given 
against  them  than  under  the  old  system. 


PROTECTING  THE  WORKER  141 

This  does  not  exhaust  the  activities  of  German  cit- 
ies in  dealing  with  the  labor  problem  or  the  provi- 
sions for  the  welfare  of  the  working  and  the  poorer 
classes.  Experiments  have  been  made  with  insur- 
ance against  unemployment,  although  with  far  less 
success  than  in  other  fields.  The  intermittent  nat- 
ure of  industrial  employment  is  recognized  and  efforts 
are  being  made  to  protect  the  worker  against  it. 
This,  too,  is  being  done  with  the  aim  of  minimiz- 
ing pauperism  by  preventive  legislation.  Insurance 
against  unemployment  is  designed  to  prevent  the 
degeneration  which  invariably  follows  idleness.  It 
is  inspired  partly  by  humane  motives,  partly  by  a 
far-sighted  industrial  intelligence,  and  partly  by  the 
appreciation  of  city  officials  that  it  costs  less  to  tide 
men  over  industrial  depression  than  to  maintain 
them  permanently  in  the  pauper  class. 

In  addition  the  worker  must  be  kept  in  a  state  of 
efficiency  for  re-employment  or  for  military  purposes. 
Nearly  a  dozen  cities,  of  which  Munich,  Dresden, 
Cologne,  Diisseldorf,  Strassburg,  and  Mayence  are 
the  chief,  are  experimenting  with  unemployment  in- 
surance. Since  1896  Cologne  has  been  working  on  a 
system  the  administration  of  which  is  in  the  hands 
of  a  committee  created  by  the  council,  consisting  of 
the  Mayor,  the  President  of  the  Labor  Exchange, 
twelve  workingmen  elected  by  the  insured,  and  twelve 
honorary  members  chosen  from  among  prominent 
citizens  in  the  community.    Approximately  $25,000 


142  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

was  raised  for  the  purpose  by  employers  of  labor;  to 
which  the  city  added  $6,000  more.  This  is  the  capi- 
tal fund  of  the  system.  Workmen  over  eighteen 
years  of  age  who  have  resided  a  year  in  the  Cologne 
district  and  have  a  regular  calling  are  permitted  to 
join  the  association  and  pay  a  weekly  contribution 
of  from  seven  to  ten  cents  for  a  period  of  thirty-four 
weeks.  Then  if  they  are  out  of  employment  without 
fault  of  their  own,  they  are  entitled  to  insurance  for 
fourteen  weeks  during  the  winter  months.  No  bene- 
fits are  paid  if  the  workman  is  on  strike  or  if  he 
refuses  to  work.  Insurance  offices  are  run  in  con- 
nection with  the  Labor  Exchange.  Thus  far  the 
opportunity  has  been  taken  advantage  of  chiefly  by 
masons,  stone-cutters,  carpenters,  and  seasonal  work- 
men. The  number  of  insured  has  risen  to  about 
2,000. 

Similar  organizations  promoted  by  the  city  or  by 
private  individuals  have  been  started  in  other  cities, 
but  thus  far  the  system  is  still  in  its  experimental 
stage. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE   VISION   OF   THE   GERMAN   CITY 

The  attitude  of  mind  of  the  German  business  man 
is  different  from  anything  I  have  ever  known.  Men 
talk  of  the  city  as  they  do  of  their  homes,  as  they  do 
of  their  private  business  affairs.  Cities  spend  gen- 
erously for  many  things  which  have  no  place  in  the 
budget  of  the  American  city,  and  they  spend  with 
an  intelligent  estimate  of  their  value.  Beauty  is 
treated  as  a  commercial  asset  and  is  justified  as  a 
means  for  promoting  the  city's  growth.  Taxpayers 
do  not  question  the  outlay  for  the  opera  and  the 
theatre,  for  gardens,  art  galleries,  and  museums. 
They  approve  of  expenditure  to  beautify  the  streets, 
to  adorn  them  with  statuary  and  fountains,  with  clock 
towers  and  other  forms  of  ornamentation.  Bridges 
command  the  talent  of  the  architect,  as  do  railway 
stations  and  minor  public  buildings.  The  overhead 
work  of  the  railways  and  elevated  lines  is  of  a 
splendid  permanence.  And  officials  and  business  men 
defend  these  expenditures  by  an  appeal  to  results. 
They  say  that  those  cities  increase  in  population  and 
trade  that  spend  most  generously  for  these  things. 
Nor  is  there  any  protest  against  heavy  taxes  for  edu- 

143 


144  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

cation,  recreation,  and  social  purposes.  For  it  is  gen- 
erally recognized  that  industry  seeks  those  cities  that 
do  the  most  to  encourage  trade,  that  stimulate  com- 
merce by  opening  up  industrial  areas,  that  build 
docks  and  harbors  and  provide  cheap  factory  sites. 
Employers  are  attracted  by  educational  opportunities 
which  produce  skilled  workmen,  and  a  happy,  con- 
tented population.  Persons  of  leisure  choose  their 
homes  for  the  same  reasons,  while  travellers  seek  out 
the  cities  that  make  the  most  adequate  provision  for 
education,  art,  music,  and  beauty.  All  these  things 
bring  money  to  the  town.  They  promote  business. 
They  increase  land  values.  Finally,  the  income-tax 
rate  is  reduced  by  contributions  from  the  many  in- 
dustrial activities  as  well  as  by  the  increasing  taxable 
land  values  which  the  growth  of  population  and  in- 
dustry create. 

Education  is  close-linked  with  life.  It  is  vocational 
as  well  as  cultural.  Much  of  the  efficiency  of  Ger- 
many in  industry,  in  commerce,  in  those  lines  of 
manufacture  which  involve  artistic  and  special  train- 
ing, is  traceable  to  the  thought  given  to  the  subject 
of  education.  Exhibitions  are  frequently  held  for 
the  purpose  of  stud3dng  the  progress  of  education 
and  its  achievements.  In  the  summer  of  1912  an 
arts  and  crafts  exhibition  was  held  at  Dresden  not 
unlike  the  exhibition  of  hygiene  in  the  same  city  in 
1911.  The  handicrafts  were  all  represented,  as  were 
the  domestic  sciences.    There  were  exhibits  of  model- 


THE  VISION  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY       145 

ling,  the  making  of  furniture,  and  studies  from  life. 
The  drawing,  designing,  color  work,  landscape  gar- 
dening, and  interior  decoration  suggested  the  work 
of  the  practised  artist  rather  than  of  the  public- 
school  child. 

Every  large  city  has  its  manual  training  and  tech- 
nical arts  schools,  which  are  graded  from  the  lower 
classes  up  to  higher  schools  for  mature  students. 
The  courses  of  study  are  adjusted  to  the  particular 
industries  of  the  town.  Colleges  of  commerce  are 
maintained  in  the  larger  cities,  in  which  employers 
and  managers  are  trained  in  finance,  political  econ- 
omy, international  relations,  and  accounting.  The 
studies  in  these  schools  are  consciously  related  to 
the  promotion  of  commerce  and  trade.  The  newer 
school  buildings  are  elaborate  and  no  expense  has 
been  spared  to  make  them  efficient  instruments  for 
teaching.  Shower-baths  are  provided  in  the  element- 
ary schools,  as  are  gymnasiums  and  playgrounds. 
The  children  are  put  through  physical  exercises  and 
are  taken  on  long  tramps  through  the  country. 

The  expenditure  for  education  is  even  more  gen- 
erous than  it  is  in  America — not  only  relatively  but 
absolutely.  The  city  of  Diisseldorf  spends  $1,132,- 
400  on  education,  or  nearly  $4  per  capita.  Frankfort- 
on-the-Mam  spent  $1,800,000  in  1907,  or  nearly  $5 
per  capita.  Of  this,  $425,000  was  expended  on  high 
schools,  $200,000  on  middle  schools,  $700,000  on  ele- 
mentary schools,  $60,000  on  continuation  schools, 


146  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

$40,000  on  trade  schools,  and  $45,000  on  technical 
schools.  Head-masters  in  the  high  schools  are  paid 
from  $1,800  to  $2,500;  men  teachers  from  $550  to 
$1,120,  and  women  teachers  from  $400  to  $820.  On 
retirement  the  teachers  receive  a  pension  for  the  re- 
mainder of  their  lives.  The  number  of  teachers  in 
Frankfort  schools  is  1,300,  of  whom  301  are  women.^ 
Germany  provides  for  the  leisure  of  its  people  more 
intelligently  and  generously  than  any  other  country 
in  the  world.  This,  too,  lures  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  visitors  and  residents  to  that  coimtry  each  year. 
Provision  for  the  drama,  for  the  opera,  and  for  art 
is  treated  as  a  public  as  well  as  a  private  function. 
Men  and  women,  boys  and  girls,  are  so  familiar 
with  the  old  masters,  that  a  knowledge  of  art  and 
music  is  an  almost  universal  possession.  It  seems  as 
though  the  city  said:  "Every  human  being  is  enti- 
tled to  at  least  an  opportunity  for  wholesome  enjoy- 
ment dm-ing  his  leisure  hours.  The  coming  of  the 
city  has  destroyed  individual  play.  It  has  taken 
away  the  country-side  and  left  only  the  streets,  and 
such  opportunities  as  commerce  offers.  The  parks 
are  closed  in  the  winter.  So  are  the  streets.  The 
cost  of  commercialized  amusements  to  the  poor  is 
prohibitive.  Only  through  taxation  can  education 
be  made  a  life-long  thing;  only  by  public  action  can 
the  people  enjoy  clean,  wholesome  amusement.  Only 

1  For  a  comparison  of  school  expenditures  of  German  and  Ameri- 
can cities  see  chapter  III. 


THE  VISION  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY       147 

through  the  community  itself  can  recreation  be  of- 
fered under  modem  urban  conditions." 

In  America  recreation  has  been  left  almost  wholly 
to  commerce.  It  is  satisfied  by  the  saloons,  the  dance- 
hall,  and  the  theatre,  at  a  terrible  cost  to  the  taste, 
the  minds,  and  the  morals  of  the  people.  We  dissi- 
pate the  results  of  education  by  our  neglect.  We 
leave  the  worker  to  the  saloon;  we  break  up  the 
family,  and  turn  the  boy  and  girl  over  to  the  dance- 
hall.  These  are  almost  the  only  places  open  after  a 
day  of  exhausting  toil.  In  Germany,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  city  educates  while  it  amuses.  The  opera 
and  theatre  are  subsidized,  and  the  best  sort  of  pro- 
ductions are  encouraged.  Every  capital  city  has  its 
court  theatre  and  opera-house  of  monumental  archi- 
tecture. This  more  than  anything  else  explains  the 
superiority  of  the  drama  in  Europe.  One  hears  the 
plays  of  Shakespeare,  Bernard  Shaw,  Hauptmann, 
Schiller,  Lessing,  and  other  dramatists,  the  best  Eng- 
lish plays  being  presented  to  far  more  appreciative 
audiences  than  those  of  New  York  or  Chicago.  There 
are  twenty  subsidized  court  theatres  in  Germany  and 
nearly  one  hundred  maintained  by  individual  cities. 
In  some  instances  the  theatre  is  given  to  the  director 
free  of  rent,  while  in  others  a  direct  subsidy  is  granted. 
Some  cities  provide  the  orchestra,  scenery,  costumes, 
and  the  gas,  heating,  and  lighting.  There  is  no  uni- 
formity in  the  manner  of  support,  but  in  nearly  all 
the  cities  the  drama  and  opera  are  generously  main- 


148  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

tallied  as  essential  features  in  the  life  of  the  com- 
munity. Prices  of  admission  are  adjusted  to  encour- 
age persons  of  small  means  to  attend  the  theatre  and 
opera.  Tickets  range  from  twelve  cents  to  two  dol- 
lars in  the  evening,  with  reduced  prices  for  matinees. 
The  municipal  or  court  opera-houses  and  theatres 
of  Berlin,  Dresden,  IMunich,  Frankfort,  and  other 
cities  are  of  great  beauty. 

Cities  also  provide  generously  for  music  in  con- 
nection with  public  or  semi-public  places  of  refresh- 
ment. Nearly  all  of  the  larger  to^vms  maintain  sym- 
phony orchestras  with  an  oflficial  director.  Two  or 
three  evenings  a  week  the  best  of  symphony  con- 
certs are  given,  for  which  a  small  admission  fee  is 
charged.  Munich  has  inaugurated  a  musical  festi- 
val in  the  summer,  at  which  a  series  of  concerts  are 
given  from  the  works  of  the  leading  masters.  People 
come  to  Munich  from  all  over  the  world  during  the 
festival  week.  In  nearly  every  large  town  there  are 
daily  concerts  by  the  military  bands  connected  with 
the  regiments  stationed  in  the  ^dcinity.  In  cities  like 
Berlin,  Munich,  Diisseldorf,  and  Dresden  one  can  at- 
tend from  two  to  three  concerts  a  day  during  the 
summer  months.  They  are  given  in  the  public  parks 
or  open-air  restaurants,  to  which  great  crowds  of  peo- 
ple go  for  their  evening  meal  or  for  Hght  refreshments. 
Entire  families  spend  their  holidays  and  Sundays  in 
the  zoological  and  palm  gardens  or  in  the  public  parks 
and  private  beer  gardens.    These  gardens  are  open 


Palm  Gardens,  Frankfort-on-the-Main. 


msmi 

KH^ 

^^;-  ^^- 

7j — ^    .'■■.■'[- ■f-'^A 

^ 

■mm 

•-•*  ^*'.  "lift  •/»>_.,:. 

^i^"!.,    vMs  y(^- 

l-.j.'ir^H 

-  ^ 

1 

..ii^^ 

^v 

r 

n 

=__ 

■■  ■■  &  '■\. 

• 

Exposition  Park,  Munich,  where  all  Kinds  of  Exhibitions 
ARE  Held. 

The  Palm  Gardens,  Exposition  Halls,  and  Zoological  Gardens  are  the  favorite 
resorts  of  the  people.  There  are  open-air  restaurants,  with  band  and 
orchestral  concerts  In  the  evenings  and  on  holidays. 


THE  VISION  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY       149 

to  the  air,  are  clean  and  free  from  disorder,  and  play 
an  important  role  in  the  life  of  the  community.  They 
are  accessible  to  even  the  poorest  and  are  frequented 
by  all  classes. 

Many  cities,  too,  maintain  rathskellers  in  the 
basement  of  the  city  hall.  Diisseldorf  owns  a  Ton 
Halle  in  which  the  best  of  symphony  concerts  can 
be  heard  three  or  four  times  a  week.  In  recent  years 
cities  have  been  erecting  exposition  halls  for  indus- 
trial and  art  exhibitions,  for  manmioth  concerts,  and 
a  great  variety  of  purposes.  They  are  usually  sur- 
rounded by  a  park  and  form  the  recreational  centre 
of  the  community.  These  ex-positions  are  designed 
to  promote  industrial  efficiency  and  knowledge  of 
local  industries.  They  attract  many  visitors  to  the 
cities  and  indirectly  pay  for  the  expenditure  in  this 
way. 

It  is  about  the  open-air  concert  in  the  parks  and 
public  halls,  in  the  opera-house  and  the  theatre,  that 
the  leisure  life  of  the  German  revolves.  It  is  lei- 
surely, restful,  and  cultural.  It  provides  for  the  fam- 
ily rather  than  for  the  individual;  it  is  social  in  char- 
acter and  is  consciously  directed  toward  refinement 
and  the  development  of  the  artistic  senses.  The  sub- 
traction of  this  public  provision  for  leisure  from  the 
every-day  life  of  Germany  would  be  the  destruction 
of  much  of  the  country's  charm.  Provision  for  lei- 
sure begins  with  the  cradle  and  ends  with  the  grave. 
It  supplements  education,  and  relieves  the  tedium  of 


150  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

toil.  The  efficiency  of  the  German  workman  is  in 
no  small  degree  traceable  to  the  rest,  to  the  change 
in  environment  and  in  mental  interests,  which  the 
community  offers  in  these  ways.  There  is  little 
drunkenness  and  few  of  the  environing  allurements 
leading  to  excess  which  characterize  the  commercial- 
ized recreational  opportunities  in  America. 

In  recent  years  the  playground  has  been  developed 
along  American  lines.  The  new  suburban  extensions 
include  provision  for  play  places  and  gardens  within 
a  few  minutes'  walk  of  every  man's  home.  These 
playgrounds  are  designed  with  the  greatest  care,  so 
as  to  secure  the  maximum  of  beauty  and  use.  The 
gardens  are  of  great  variety  and  are  filled  with  plants 
and  flowers.  The  Hofgartens  in  the  capital  cities  are 
crowded  with  mothers  with  their  children  every  after- 
noon in  summer  enjoying  the  concerts.  Cities  almost 
always  maintain  all-year-round  bath-houses,  and 
public  comfort  stations.  The  teaching  of  swimming 
is  compulsory  in  the  schools,  and  during  the  summer 
months  crowds  of  children  may  be  seen  with  their 
teachers  on  their  way  to  the  baths  which  line  the 
water-fronts.  Almost  every  city  has  its  zoological 
and  palm  garden,  to  which  the  children  are  brought 
in  groups  with  their  teachers.  There  are  restau- 
rants in  connection  with  them  where  band  concerts 
are  held.  The  city  of  Munich  maintains  a  wonder- 
ful Turkish-bath  establishment  of  splendid  architect- 
ure and  the  most  complete  appointments.    It  is  lo- 


I 


THE  VISION  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY       151 

cated  upon  an  island  in  the  river,  and  is  thronged 
with  people  at  all  hours  of  the  day. 

Some  idea  of  the  attitude  of  mind  of  the  city  to- 
ward the  leisure  life  of  its  people  and  the  prominence 
which  it  gives  to  recreation  may  be  gained  from  the 
expenditures  which  it  makes  for  these  purposes.  Co- 
logne, a  city  of  500,000  population,  spends  $129,000 
a  year  for  parks,  $97,000  for  public  baths,  and  $500,- 
000  for  the  theatre,  for  music,  for  art  and  science. 
It  spends  nearly  $1.50  per  capita  for  these  purposes. 
Were  New  York  City  to  spend  as  generously,  taking 
into  consideration  the  relative  purchasing  power  of 
money,  it  would  spend  from  $10,000,000  to  $12,000,- 
000  upon  recreation,  the  theatre,  music,  and  provi- 
sions for  recreative  culture.  Diisseldorf,  with  350,- 
000  people,  spends  $64,000  on  its  parks,  $110,000  on 
its  theatres  and  orchestras,  $45,000  for  the  arts  and 
sciences.  Mayence,  with  a  population  of  105,000, 
spends  $29,400  on  the  theatre,  $16,000  on  baths,  and 
$19,000  on  an  orchestra.  Essen,  with  265,000  people, 
spends  $9,730  on  its  orchestra  and  $12,500  on  its 
theatre.  In  addition  there  are  other  subsidies  and 
subventions  which  increase  the  appropriations  to  a 
much  larger  sum. 

The  German  city  looks  upon  happiness  as  a  public 
obligation.  It  freshens  the  artisan  and  relieves  the 
dull  monotony  of  his  daily  work.  We  in  America 
have  not  yet  realized  that  provision  must  be  made 
for  the  leisure  hours  of  the  people  and  that  their  di- 


152  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

rection  and  control  must;  of  necessity,  be  in  public 
rather  than  in  private  hands. 

The  same  intelligence  characterizes  expenditures 
for  social  ends.  Emergency  work  in  hard  times,  for 
the  opening  up  of  a  slum  area,  for  the  building  of 
new  schools  and  hospitals,  is  made  with  an  apprecia- 
tion of  the  ultimate  value  of  such  expenditure  in  re- 
ducing disease.  The  burdens  of  taxation  are  treated 
as  a  kind  of  investment  from  which  dividends  will 
be  reaUzed  in  the  future. 

There  is  no  question  but  that  expenditures  will  be 
made  with  economy  and  with  the  best  talent  the 
empire  commands.  Officials  enjoy  long  tenure  of  of- 
fice, and  are  selected  with  a  view  to  the  big  projects 
which  the  city  has  in  hand.  City  councils,  too,  com- 
mand a  high  order  of  talent,  drawn  from  business  and 
the  professions.  The  term  of  service  in  the  council  is 
six  years,  with  only  a  partial  renewal  every  two  years, 
in  consequence  of  which  projects  can  be  planned  over 
a  long  period  of  time,  while  the  ability  of  the  city  to 
borrow  without  limit  makes  it  possible  to  project 
plans  in  a  long-visioned  way. 

Much  of  the  waste  of  the  American  city  is  due  to 
the  Umitation  on  its  borrowing  powers.  Cities  have 
to  adopt  a  hand-to-mouth  policy.  They  are  com- 
pelled to  spend  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  instead 
of  a  million  because  of  the  debt  limit  fixed  by  the 
legislature.  New  York  has  been  cramped  within 
Manhattan   Island   because   it   could   not    borrow 


THE  VISION  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY       153 

enough  money  to  build  its  subways,  and  when  re- 
lief was  secured  it  was  so  inadequate  that  the  city 
had  to  rely  on  private  credit  at  colossal  cost  to  the 
future  in  order  to  complete  the  system. 

Docks  and  harbor  development  projects  are  ham- 
pered by  similar  limitations.  The  city  cannot  pro- 
ject plans  to  be  carried  out  as  the  needs  of  the  city 
require  because  of  its  inability  to  secure  the  neces- 
sary funds.  Each  department  clamors  for  appropri- 
ations which  compel  an  annual  adjustment  of  the 
budget,  not  to  what  should  be  done,  but  to  what  can 
be  done.  The  city  of  Chicago  is  helpless  to  carry 
out  its  planning  and  harbor  projects  because  of  limits 
on  its  borrowing  capacity  which  have  kept  down  its 
indebtedness  to  an  insignificant  sum.  Cleveland  has 
planned  a  harbor  development  for  years,  the  city 
has  been  alive  to  the  need  for  adequate  sewers,  new 
bridges,  parks,  playgrounds,  and  hospitals,  but  the 
almost  inflexible  debt  limit  of  the  city  makes  im- 
peratively needed  improvements  impossible.  The  in- 
troduction of  the  expert  or  the  improvement  of  the 
machinery  of  government  would  not  correct  our  city 
problems  so  long  as  officials  are  cramped  as  they  are 
by  inflexible  laws  which  control  both  the  borrow- 
ing capacity  and  the  tax  limit  of  the  city. 

Big  improvements  are  carried  through  in  Ger- 
many on  a  scale  which  anticipates  the  needs  of  the 
community  for  generations  to  come.  Suburban  proj- 
ects are  worked  out  with  great  care  long  before  work 


154  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

is  begun.  An  opportunity  is  offered  for  criticism  and 
suggestion.  When  the  project  is  ready  for  actual 
work  a  wide  area  is  undertaken  at  once.  The  streets 
are  planned  in  as  much  detail  as  the  specifications 
of  a  great  building.  The  project  may  cover  a  half 
dozen  years  in  its  completion,  but  when  it  is  finished 
every  provision  has  been  made  for  a  community  of 
several  thousand  inhabitants. 

Water,  sewage,  and  harbor  projects  are  undertaken 
in  the  same  big-visioned  way.  The  city  of  Munich 
long  suffered  from  a  high  mortality  rate  due  to  the 
prevalence  of  typhoid  fever.  The  water  supply  was 
inadequate.  In  1883  the  city  undertook  to  bring 
water  from  pure  springs  far  up  in  the  Bavarian  Alps. 
The  project  was  a  most  costly  one;  it  involved  en- 
gineering difficulties  which  required  the  best  of  ex- 
perts and  involved  many  years  in  its  completion. 
Great  sewers  were  run  through  the  city  which  are 
flushed  by  running  water,  impounded  in  the  Isar 
River,  and  carried  at  a  rapid  flood  through  the  cen- 
tral part  of  the  city. 

The  water-front  developments  of  cities  are  of  the 
same  ambitious  sort  and  include  provision  for  every 
possible  need.  Stone  embankments  are  built  along 
the  river  front  with  promenade-ways  on  the  top, 
while  the  street  and  steam  railway  tracks  are  on  a 
lower  level  with  quays  and  landing-stages  at  the 
water's  edge  for  passenger  and  pleasure  craft.  Com- 
manding water-front  sites  are  reserved  for  public 


THE  VISION  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY       155 

buildings,  for  exposition  halls  or  parkage.  Still 
others  are  dedicated  to  playgrounds  or  open  spaces, 
while  provision  is  made  for  a  dock  and  harbor  sys- 
tem susceptible  of  development  to  meet  the  growing 
needs  of  the  city. 

It  is  this  vision  of  the  municipality  with  a  life  of 
its  own  that  marks  off  the  German  city  from  the 
rest  of  the  world.  There  is  a  sense  of  community 
living,  an  appreciation  of  the  fact  that  the  city  is 
here  to  stay  and  that  its  coming  involves  vicarious 
sacrifices  to  the  many  that  must  be  relieved  by  the 
few.  There  is  something  of  the  municipal  sense  of 
the  cities  of  ancient  Greece  or  the  towns  of  Italy, 
Germany,  and  the  Netherlands  during  the  renaissance 
of  municipal  enthusiasm  of  the  latter  middle  ages. 
This  feeling  is  found  among  all  classes.  It  animates 
artisans  and  employers,  councillors  and  burgomasters. 
The  city  is  a  conscious,  living  thing  with  a  big  life  of 
its  own  and  a  definite  mission  to  perform. 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  HOUSING  PROBLEM  IN  GERMANY 

Germany  has  not  solved  the  housing  problem  any 
more  than  have  we.  But  Germany  has  attacked  it 
with  courage  and  intelligence.  Bad  housing  is  rec- 
ognized to  be  a  national  menace  which  must  be  cor- 
rected in  the  interest  of  the  health  and  efficiency  of 
the  people. 

And  officials  seem  agreed  that  the  trouble  is  that 
there  are  not  enough  houses.  Not  only  that,  but 
private  capital  will  not  build  enough  houses  to  keep 
pace  with  the  demand.  It  is  not  the  magnitude  of 
the  problem  that  prevents  capital  from  building;  it 
is  the  absence  of  a  commercial  interest  to  induce  it 
to  do  so.  It  is  good  business  to  perfect  the  automo- 
bile; to  make  it  cheap,  safe,  and  durable.  Competi- 
tion compels  this  in  most  industries.  But  there  is 
no  such  motive  driving  capital  to  build  houses  or  to 
improve  their  appointments.  Rather  the  reverse  is 
true.  Capital  instinctively  appreciates  that  a  limi- 
tation of  the  supply  of  houses  keeps  up  rents  and 
increases  the  value  of  existing  property.  This  is  true 
because  the  housing  problem  is  a  land  rather  than 

a  house  problem.     Land-owners  act  just  as  do  coal 

156 


THE  HOUSING  PROBLEM  IN  GERMANY    157 

operators,  cotton-growers,  or  sugar-refiners  in  re- 
stricting the  output.  There  is  more  money  in  land 
speculation  than  there  is  in  house-building.  That  is 
the  crux  of  the  housing  problem  all  over  the  world. 
Men  speculate  rather  than  build.  Land  speculation 
has  created  a  house  famine.  This  is  the  real  explana- 
tion of  high  rents,  of  congestion,  of  the  slum.  There 
are  lumber,  bricks,  and  material  enough  to  build  all 
the  houses  the  people  want.  And  labor  is  eager  to 
work  upon  them.  There  is  no  more  difficulty  about 
house-building  than  there  is  about  any  other  indus- 
try. The  thing  that  differentiates  it  from  other  ac- 
tivities is  its  identity  with  the  land.  And  its  identity 
with  the  land  leads  men  to  speculate  and  withhold 
land  from  use  in  the  hope  of  increasing  profits  from 
this  source. 

All  over  the  world  the  city  is  growing  with  the  same 
rapidity,  and  with  the  growth  of  the  city  land  values 
tend  to  increase.  The  urban  population  of  Germany 
in  1871  was  35.5  per  cent,  of  the  total.  By  1895  it 
had  risen  to  49  per  cent.  In  the  latter  year  13.2 
per  cent,  of  the  people  lived  in  cities  of  over  100,000 
population,  while  in  1900  the  percentage  had  risen  to 
16.18  per  cent,  and  five  years  later  to  18.97  per  cent. 
It  is  this  growth  in  urban  population  that  leads  men 
to  speculate  in  land  rather  than  to  build  houses. 
Professor  Eberstadt,  of  Berlm,  describes  the  situation 
of  the  modern  city  by  saying  that  "the  mediaeval 
town  was  surrounded  by  a  wall  to  keep  the  invaders 


158  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

out;  while  the  modem  industrial  city  is  surrounded 
by  a  wall  of  land  speculators,  who  keep  the  people  in." 
Nowhere  in  the  world  has  the  housing  question 
been  studied  with  the  thoroughness  that  Germany 
has  given  to  it.  The  housing  problem  has  been  stud- 
ied in  its  relation  to  land,  to  transportation,  to  the 
health  and  well-being  of  the  people.  It  is  looked  upon 
as  one  of  the  most  important  if  not  the  most  impor- 
tant municipal  problem.  The  greatest  variety  of 
experiments  are  being  made  by  cities,  states,  co-oper- 
ative associations,  and  private  individuals  in  the 
working  out  of  the  problem.  City  authorities  issue 
reports  upon  the  subject,  all  planning  schemes  are 
related  to  it,  while  individual  factories  and  industrial 
developments  are  laid  out  with  reference  to  the  proper 
living  of  the  people.  There  are  the  most  minute 
regulations  as  to  the  height  of  buildings,  the  amount 
of  land  that  may  be  covered  by  the  structure,  the 
distance  houses  must  be  set  back  from  the  street,  as 
well  as  the  distance  which  separates  one  house  from 
the  other.  Streets  are  arranged  so  as  to  give  the 
maximum  of  sunlight  in  the  hving-rooms.  Their 
width  is  fixed  so  as  to  permit  adequate  open  space 
around  the  houses.  There  is  the  most  careful  super- 
vision of  plumbing  and  sanitary  arrangements,  as 
well  as  in  the  provision  for  small  parks  and  open 
spaces.  The  literature  on  the  subject  is  voluminous, 
as  is  the  legislation  of  the  various  German  states. 
We  have   nothing  like   it   in   America.    England, 


THE  HOUSING  PROBLEM  IN  GERMANY    159 

France,  Belgium,  and  Austria  are  far  behind  Ger- 
many in  their  knowledge  of  the  subject,  while  in  no 
country  in  the  world  is  it  treated  with  the  same 
big  vision  and  appreciation  of  its  meaning  as  in  Ger- 
many. 

Studies  have  been  made  of  the  relation  of  urban 
land  values  to  the  rents  people  pay.  In  an  article  en- 
titled " Wohnungsnot"  ^  Dr.  Miiller  asserts  that  the 
land  underlying  the  city  of  Berlin  increased  in  value 
during  the  twenty  years  from  1870  to  1890  by  $857,- 
000,000.  It  is  this  increase  in  land  values  that  in- 
creases rent,  and  especially  the  rents  of  the  very  poor. 
It  is  this  that  drives  up  tenements,  destroys  the  open 
spaces,  and  diminishes  the  size  of  the  rooms.  It  is 
this,  too,  that  makes  it  more  profitable  to  speculate 
than  to  build.  And  it  is  realization  of  this  fact  that 
has  convinced  German  housing  reformers  that  the 
problem  cannot  be  left  to  the  free  play  of  demand  and 
supply,  as  in  other  industries.  Mr.  Camille  Huys- 
mann,  of  Brussels,  in  a  study  entitled.  La  Plus- 
Value  Immobile  dans  les  Communes  Beiges,  has  ana- 
lyzed the  increase  of  urban  land  values  in  the  cities 
of  Europe.  Speaking  of  Berlin,  he  says:  "Taking  a 
hundred  inhabited  houses,  the  average  site  or  land 
value  increased  from  $82  in  1855  to  $166  in  1895,  an 
increase  of  100  per  cent.;  while  the  groimd  rent  of 
the  individual  person  increased  from  19.68  thalers  in 
1850  to  35.28  thalers  in  1872.    Of  these  hundred 

*  Conrad's  Jahrhucher,  1902. 


160  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

houses  the  ground  rent  or  annual  site  value  forced  up 
rentS;  so  that,  whereas  in  1865  30.74  per  cent,  had 
paid  less  than  $37.50  a  year,  in  1895  only  8.47  per 
cent,  paid  this  sum."  Continuing  he  says :  "The many 
inquiries  conducted  in  Berlin  demonstrate  beyond 
question  that  the  increase  in  ground  rentals  is  more 
rapid  than  the  increase  in  the  value  of  real  estate; 
that  the  number  of  cheap  tenements  tends  to  di- 
minish, while  the  number  of  dear  tenements  tends 
to  increase."  He  shows  that,  while  the  number  of 
houses  increased  from  1886  to  1895  by  but  24.8  per 
cent.,  rentals  increased  36.7  per  cent.  Insurance  on 
buildings  increased  by  $500,000,000  from  1870  to 
1890,  while  land  values  increased  by  $875,000,000. 
In  1881, 16.23  per  cent,  of  the  people  paid  an  aver- 
age rent  of  less  than  $37.50,  while  ten  years  later  only 
7.32  per  cent,  paid  less  than  this  sum.^ 

Investigations  in  Berlin  have  shown  that  the 
poorer  classes  pay  from  one-fifth  to  one-quarter  of 
their  total  income  in  rent.  Six  hundred  thousand,  or 
nearly  one-third  of  the  population,  Hve  in  dwellings 
in  which  each  room  contains  five  or  more  persons, 
while  80  per  cent,  of  the  working  people  in  the 
larger  towns  of  Germany  are  said  to  live  in  cellars, 
attics,  and  tenements  inadequate  to  the  maintenance 
of  a  decent  family  life.  Official  reports  on  the  sub- 
ject show  that  in  the  following  cities,  out  of  every 
1,000  persons,  there  live  in  dwellings  consisting  of 

^  La  Plus-Value  Immobile  dans  les  Communes  Beiges,  pp.  lQ-12. 


THE  HOUSING  PROBLEM  IN  GERMANY    161 

only  one  or  two  rooms  the  following  number  of  per- 
sons, to  wit:  in  Berlin,  731;  in  Breslau,  742;  in 
Dresden,  688;  in  Hamburg,  523;  in  Hanover,  679; 
in  Konigsberg,  760;  in  Magdeburg,  726;  in  Mann- 
heim, 610;  and  in  Munich,  524.^ 

In  the  solution  of  the  problem,  Germany  has 
adopted  three  general  policies.  In  the  first  place, 
the  land  within  and  without  the  city  is  planned 
with  great  care  to  prevent  the  reappearance  of  tene- 
ment conditions  in  the  new  quarters.  Second,  the 
municipality  either  builds  or  promotes  the  building 
of  suburban  garden  communities  or  the  erection  of 
model  apartment-houses  within  the  city.  A  third 
policy,  referred  to  elsewhere,  is  the  taxation  of  vacant 
land  at  a  higher  rate  than  improved  land,  to  force 
the  owner  to  build.  In  addition,  the  cities  generally 
own  the  means  of  transit,  which,  together  with  the 
state-owned  railways,  are  used  for  the  distribution 
of  population  out  into  the  country  and  surrounding 
villages. 

The  housing  problem  is  treated  as  an  integral  part 
of  town  planning.  When  a  suburban  district  is 
opened  up,  transportation  facilities  are  at  once  pro- 
vided, and  before  any  building  is  permitted  details 
of  streets,  parks,  and  open  spaces  are  fixed  by  ordi- 
nance of  the  council  after  exhaustive  study  of  the 
subject  by  engineers,  landscape  artists,  and  industrial 
and  sanitary  experts.    This  is  all  done  before  the 

\  Die  Wohnungsfrage,  Dr.  Eugen  Jaeger,  Berlin,  1903. 


162  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

streets  are  constructed  or  the  land  is  placed  upon 
the  market  for  sale. 

Health  and  sanitary  conditions,  as  well  as  the  gen- 
eral welfare  of  the  people,  are  constantly  kept  in 
view.  Residence  streets  in  the  workingmen's  sec- 
tions are  of  narrow  width,  in  order  to  keep  down  the 
paving  costs  and  permit  a  larger  area  of  land  to  be 
used  for  parkage  and  open  spaces.  Playgrounds  are 
provided  at  frequent  intervals,  as  weU  as  public  gar- 
dens. All  this  is  part  of  a  conscious  health  pro- 
gramme; it  is  part  of  the  conviction  that  healthy 
citizens  are  the  best  asset  of  the  state,  and  that 
health  can  only  be  enjoyed  with  proper  home  sur- 
roundings. 

It  is  further  recognized  that  cheerfulness,  hopeful- 
ness, and  a  love  of  life  itself  have  value,  to  promote 
which  the  newer  sections  have  a  park-like  appearance, 
it  being  generally  recognized  that  the  larger  the  town 
the  more  numerous  the  open  spaces  should  be.  In 
order  to  insure  fresh  air  for  everybody,  buildings  are 
lower  in  the  outskirts  than  they  are  in  the  centre  of 
the  city.  The  towns  are  divided  into  building  dis- 
tricts, or  zones,  in  each  of  which  the  building  regula- 
tions are  adjusted  to  local  conditions.  As  one  passes 
from  the  centre  of  the  city  to  the  outskirts,  the 
height  of  buildings  gradually  diminishes,  until  in  the 
outer  section  only  two  stories  are  permitted. 

In  the  second  place,  towns  quite  generally  build 
apartment-houses  or  construct  suburban  garden  cot- 


THE  HOUSING  PROBLEM  IN  GERMANY    163 

tages  either  to  rent  or  to  sell.  The  state  authorities 
frequently  provide  houses  for  their  own  employees, 
while  many  of  the  larger  employers  have  made  ex- 
tensive provision  for  the  housing  of  their  people.  As 
a  general  rule,  however,  housing  projects  are  carried 
through  by  co-operative  building  societies,  which  are 
aided  by  loans  from  the  insurance  funds  of  the  state, 
or  by  the  city,  at  low  rates  of  interest.  Such  socie- 
ties are  found  all  over  Germany  and  are  making  sub- 
stantial progress  toward  the  solution  of  the  housing 
problem. 

The  various  states  lend  their  hearty  approval  to 
this  programme  of  municipal  activity;  they  urge 
towns  to  build  houses,  to  loan  money  to  workmen, 
to  acquire  land,  and  extend  the  means  of  transit  to 
the  suburbs.  The  Interior  Department  lends  every 
assistance  possible  and  places  the  stamp  of  its  ap- 
proval upon  this  line  of  municipal  enterprise. 

The  ambitious  building  schemes  of  Germany  would 
have  been  impossible  without  this  co-operation. 
Money  is  loaned  for  the  construction  of  workingmen's 
dwellings  from  the  reserves  of  the  old-age  pensions, 
accident  and  invalidity  insurance  funds,  at  from  2)^ 
to  ^}4  per  cent,  interest,  with  provision  to  amor- 
tize the  loan  in  a  given  number  of  years. ^     Some- 

'  Up  to  December  31,  1910,  the  various  insurance  funds  had  con- 
tributed $76,175,598  as  loans  for  the  erection  of  workingmen's  houses. 
Of  this  sum  $4,470,801  was  invested  in  lodging-houses  and  other 
means  of  providing  for  the  needs  of  unmarried  wage-earners.  The 
average  rate  of  interest  ranged  from  2i  per  cent,  to  4i  per  cent. 
An  exhaustive  study  of  housing  reform  in  German  cities  is  found  in 


164  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

times  the  money  is  loaned  to  the  municipahty,  which 
builds  the  houses,  but  more  often  it  is  loaned  to 
co-operative  building  societies,  which  find  approxi- 
mately one-tenth  of  the  necessary  capital,  the  in- 
surance funds  providing  the  remaining  nine-tenths 
for  the  purpose.  The  mortgages  run  for  long  periods 
of  time,  and  the  conditions  of  repayment  are  made  as 
attractive  as  possible.  $76,175,598  has  been  loaned 
out  of  the  reserves  of  the  insurance  funds  for  this 
purpose.  The  dividends  to  private  investors  in  the 
stock  are  limited  to  not  more  than  4  per  cent.,  while 
the  workingmen  become  stockholders  by  making  par- 
tial payments  in  the  form  of  rent,  for  which  stock  is 
issued.  Subscriptions  by  the  tenants  can  be  with- 
drawn on  notice,  so  that  their  investment  is,  in  fact, 
like  a  savings  bank  deposit.  The  rents  are  low  and 
are  so  adjusted  as  to  pay  the  maintenance  charges 
of  the  property,  the  interest  on  the  loan  and  the 
stock,  and  ultimately  amortize  the  debt.  By  this 
means  a  sense  of  home  ownership  is  assured  to  the 
tenant  along  with  an  investment  that  can  readily 
be  converted  into  cash.  The  tenants  acquire  an 
interest  in  the  entire  apartment  rather  than  in  an 
individual  home,  which  leads  them  to  watch  their 
neighbors  and  prevent  any  misuse  of  the  property. 

Wohnungsfursorge  in  deutschen  Stddten,  Berlin,  Carl  Heymann's 
Verlag,  1910.  It  shows  the  remarkable  progress  made  in  recent  years 
in  the  building  of  new  houses,  as  well  as  in  the  more  effective  control 
of  private  construction  by  inspectors.  The  building  regulations  gov- 
erning the  erection  of  dwellings  are  included. 


THE  HOUSING  PROBLEM  IN  GERMANY    165 

They  are  guaranteed  against  any  increase  in  their 
rent  and  participate  in  the  administration  of  the 
undertaking  by  the  election  of  a  certain  number 
of  the  board  of  directors  or  trustees. 

Many  thousand  people  already  live  in  these  co- 
operative apartment-houses  in  Berlin,  erected  by 
voluntary  associations  aided  by  the  insurance  funds 
of  the  state.  Something  like  ten  thousand  apart- 
ments are  provided  in  the  blocks  so  erected.  These 
new  apartment-houses  are  not  barracks;  they  do 
not  suggest  the  cheap,  tawdry  tenements  of  New 
York  and  Chicago.  They  are  usually  designed  with 
great  care  by  competent  architects;  they  often  oc- 
cupy an  entire  city  block,  and  are  designed  to  secure 
the  maximum  of  comfort  and  architectural  effect. 

The  blocks  are  frequently  arranged  like  a  figure 
eight  with  two  court-yards  in  the  interior,  one  of 
which  is  equipped  as  a  playground  for  the  children 
with  grass  and  sand  plots,  gymnastic  apparatus,  and 
other  opportunities  for  play.  The  other  is  for  grown- 
up persons  and  contains  gardens,  flowering  plants, 
benches,  and  an  opportunity  for  men  and  women  to 
spend  their  evenings  or  holidays  in  a  park-like  en- 
closure. Other  apartment-houses  are  set  back  from 
the  street  and  have  garden-plots  in  front.  Balconies 
are  built  upon  all  sides  of  the  apartment-house,  which 
are  usually  ornamented  with  flower-boxes  so  that 
the  block  offers  an  artistic  effect,  with  Httle  to  sug- 
gest the  tenement. 


166  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

The  Berlin  Savings  and  Building  Society  is  an 
example  of  many  others  in  Berlin,  as  well  as  of  most 
of  the  large  cities  of  the  empire.  The  society  was 
organized  in  1881.  It  now  has  958  dwellings  or 
apartments  in  a  dozen  great  structures.  It  has  5,000 
members,  of  whom  3,500  are  workmen  and  1,500  are 
clerks.  Of  the  958  apartments  of  the  Berlin  Society, 
223  rent  at  from  $50  to  $75  a  year,  114  rent  at  from 
$75  to  $87  a  year,  164  at  from  $90  to  $100  a  year, 
while  the  remainder  run  up  as  high  as  $225  a  year. 
The  more  expensive  apartments  contain  a  private 
bath,  while  all  of  the  apartments  have  the  use  of  pub- 
lic baths  in  connection  with  the  house.  Even  the 
smallest  apartment  has  light  in  abundance  and  a 
compact  little  kitchenette.  Rooms  are  of  comfort- 
able size,  are  clean,  and  thoroughly  sanitary.  The 
most  fastidious  would  find  nothing  to  offend  in 
the  cheapest  of  these  apartments.  They  bear  about 
the  same  resemblance  to  a  New  York  or  Chicago  ten- 
ement that  a  country  villa  does  to  a  workingman's 
house  in  the  mill  districts  of  Pittsburgh.  There  is 
free  water  in  each  flat,  as  well  as  many  other  con- 
veniences. 

Each  apartment-house  is  a  community  by  itself. 
Usually  there  is  a  free  kindergarten  in  which  the 
children  can  be  left  while  the  parents  go  out  to  work. 
It  is  presided  over  by  an  instructor.  There  is  a  res- 
taurant as  well  as  a  smoking,  lounging,  and  club 
room  for  the  men,  with  all  kinds  of  games.    A  well- 


Berlin  Model  Apartments. 

Erected  by  co-operative  societies  from  insurance  funds.    Apartments 
rent  for  from  $4.50  a  month  upward. 


Essen,  Altenhof.     Workmen's  Colony  of  the 
Krupp  Company. 


THE  HOUSING  PROBLEM  IN  GERMANY    167 

chosen  library  and  reading  room  is  also  provided. 
In  connection  with  many  of  the  houses  are  co-opera- 
tive stores  and  baking  establishments  in  which  the 
tenants  buy  their  supplies  at  cost.  In  the  basement 
there  is  a  free  public  wash  and  drying  establishment. 
All  these  services  are  included  in  the  rent  which  the 
tenant  pays.  There  is  no  suggestion  of  charity  and 
little  patronizing  oversight.  Each  house  is  admin- 
istered separately,  partly  by  the  tenants,  partly  by 
the  society  which  erects  them.  The  tenants  choose 
a  house  master  who  collects  the  rents,  watches  the 
premises,  and  represents  the  tenants  before  the  board 
of  directors.  These  tenements  are  highly  prized. 
There  is  a  large  waiting  list  of  applicants  who  can- 
not be  acconmaodated. 

The  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Frankfort-on-the- 
Main,  in  a  pamphlet  prepared  by  it  entitled:  A 
Glimpse  of  Social  Reform  in  Germany,  describes  the 
co-operative  apartment-houses  erected  by  the  city, 
as  well  as  their  relation  to  the  state  insurance  funds, 
as  follows : 

"The  [insurance]  administration  has  loaned,  up 
to  the  end  of  1909,  280,000,000  marks  on  mortgage 
to  small  apartment  building  societies,  both  joint- 
stock  and  co-operative  and  also  to  individuals. 
The  seventy-six  houses  [in  the  city  of  Frankfort] 
cost  1,430,000  marks,  and  the  provincial  administra- 
tion loaned  to  the  company  1,350,000  marks,  or  92 
per  cent,  of  their  value.  It  loaned  almost  the  full 
value  because  sufficient  provisions  for  a  sinking-fund 


168  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

have  been  made  and  because  of  the  indirect  benefits 
it  derives.  That  this  way  of  employing  the  funds 
of  the  insurance  is  a  step  in  the  right  direction  is 
proved  by  the  fact  that  the  mortahty  in  the  apart- 
ments of  the  society  is  but  six  per  cent.,  as  against  an 
average  of  13.84  per  cent,  in  the  city  as  a  whole. 
The  mortality  of  5.8  per  cent,  among  the  infants  con- 
trasts very  favorably  with  that  in  the  city  generally, 
which  is  12.37  per  cent.  The  state  insurance  authori- 
ties cannot  invest  their  money  to  any  better  pur- 
pose. The  society  in  Frankfort  is  a  joint-stock  com- 
pany whose  sole  purpose  is  to  build  small  apartment 
houses.  It  belongs  to  the  class  of  so-called  pubHc 
utility  societies,  as  it  does  not  seek  an  economic  rent, 
its  dividend  being  restricted  by  statute  to  three  and 
one-half  per  cent.  All  earnings  above  this  rate  are 
used  for  the  maintenance  of  the  so-called  dwellings 
extension.  As  it  is  impossible  for  the  rent  paid  by 
the  tenant  to  furnish  each  apartment  with  a  parlor, 
library,  and  nursery,  separate  club-houses  have  been 
erected.  In  these  club-houses  the  youngsters  are 
taken  care  of  by  trained  kindergarten  nurses,  while 
their  parents  are  earning  their  living  or  while  the 
mother  attends  to  her  household  duties.  Here  the 
tired  father  may  read  the  papers  in  the  evening  un- 
disturbed or  play  a  game  of  chess  or  dominos  with 
his  next-door  neighbor.  Entertainments  are  given 
in  the  club-house,  and  on  Christmas  Eve  a  big  Christ- 
mas-tree celebration  is  held." 

The  city  of  Ulm,  in  Wiirtemberg,  has  carried 
through  the  most  ambitious  and  famed  housing  pro- 
gramme of  any  city  in  Germany,  if  not  in  the  world. 
The  city  is  an  important  manufacturing  centre  of 
about  56,000  inhabitants  and  owns  80  per  cent,  of 


THE  HOUSING  PROBLEM  IN  GERMANY    169 

all  the  land  in  and  around  the  city.  In  1902  the 
city  authorities  acquired  the  site  of  the  old  fortifica- 
tions which  surrounded  the  city,  and  began  the 
development  of  a  town  planning  and  housing  pro- 
gramme. It  was  seen  that  the  razing  of  the  fortifica- 
tions and  the  opening  up  of  the  outlying  territoiy 
would  greatly  increase  the  value  of  the  real  estate, 
so  the  city  determined  that  the  improvements  should 
benefit  the  city  itself  and  not  the  land  speculators. 
As  early  as  1891  the  council  began  to  buy  the  sur- 
rounding land,  and  by  1909  nearly  1,200  acres  had 
been  purchased,  at  a  total  cost  of  $1,389,640.  Four 
hundred  and  five  acres  were  later  resold  for  $1,623,- 
924,  leaving  the  city  with  805  acres,  and  a  net  profit 
of  $234,284  from  the  sale  of  one-third  of  its  purchase. 
Ulm  was  already  a  large  landlord,  and  the  addition 
of  these  holdings  brought  the  total  area  of  the  city's 
possessions  up  to  4,942  acres. 

The  territory  surrounding  the  town,  including  the 
fortifications,  was  laid  out  for  the  purposes  for  which 
it  was  best  fitted.  One  section  was  set  aside  for  all 
kinds  of  business,  for  minor  industries  and  dwelling- 
houses.  In  another  section  close  beside  the  railways 
provision  was  made  for  large  manufacturing  plants. 
Elsewhere  a  suburb  was  planned  for  the  working 
classes,  while  in  another  section  the  land  was  planned 
for  villas  and  houses  of  substantial  size.  A  great 
woods  was  reserved  for  recreation  and  sport.  Mu- 
nicipal ordinances  were  passed  which  fix  the  tjrpe  and 


170  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

kind  of  houses  that  may  be  built  in  the  several  dis- 
tricts. Almost  all  of  the  houses  are  of  the  detached- 
cottage  type,  those  in  the  workingmen's  district  being 
required  to  be  at  least  seventeen  feet  apart,  while 
those  of  clerks  and  well-to-do  persons  must  be 
twenty-three  feet  apart.  In  the  more  expensive 
residence  district  the  interval  between  the  houses 
must  be  from  thirty-three  feet  to  forty-seven  feet, 
according  to  the  value  of  the  property. 

Inasmuch  as  the  city  owns  80  per  cent,  of  the  land 
it  is  able  to  keep  down  prices  for  both  industrial  and 
residence  purposes.  The  contracts  of  sale  contain  re- 
strictions as  to  the  type  and  character  of  houses  that 
may  be  built,  as  well  as  a  provision  that  purchasers 
must  build  within  a  given  number  of  years.  Specu- 
lation is  eliminated  by  a  reservation  which  permits 
the  city  to  buy  back  the  land  and  to  refuse  its  as- 
sent to  any  sale  to  other  purchasers,  as  well  as  to 
control  the  rent  to  be  paid. 

The  city  itself  has  built  175  individual  houses,  con- 
taining 291  apartments,  for  1,367  inhabitants.  These 
apartments  are  built  for  sale  rather  than  for  rent. 
The  purchaser  pays  10  per  cent,  down  and  the  bal- 
ance at  3  per  cent,  interest  and  2  per  cent,  for  the 
sinking-fund  to  repay  the  mortgage.  Co-operative 
societies  have  constructed  18  other  apartment-houses 
containing  62  flats.  The  kingdom  of  Wiirtemburg, 
the  postal  administration,  and  several  industrial  un- 
dertakings have  also  erected  houses  for  their  em- 


THE  HOUSING  PROBLEM  IN  GERMANY    171 

ployees.  The  houses  are  of  cement,  are  usually  two 
stories  in  height,  and  are  so  arranged  that  the  pur- 
chaser can  rent  one  floor  and  occupy  another.  Rents 
range  from  $41.65  per  year  for  two  rooms  up  to 
$90.44  for  three  rooms.  The  houses  erected  by  the 
building  societies  are  on  municipal  land  under  a  leas- 
ing system,  the  city  agreeing  to  buy  back  the  houses 
at  the  end  of  seventy  years  for  80  per  cent,  of  the 
construction  value. 

Just  outside  of  the  city  of  Dresden,  and  connected 
with  it  by  trolley,  is  another  experiment  in  the  solu- 
tion of  the  housing  problem,  which  is  being  widely 
copied.  It  is  Hellerau,  the  first  garden-city  in  Ger- 
many. It  was  promoted  by  a  private  individual, 
but  is  being  carried  out  along  co-operative  lines. 
Three  hundred  and  forty-five  acres  of  land  were  pur- 
chased and  laid  out  as  a  suburban  residence  for  ar- 
tists, clerks,  and  workingmen  along  the  lines  of  medi- 
aeval German  towns.  The  undertaking  was  started 
in  1909,  and  the  first  year  one  hundred  and  fifty  cot- 
tages were  built,  which  were  immediately  occupied. 
The  next  year  as  many  more  cottages  were  erected. 
By  1912  nearly  300,000  square  metres  of  land  had 
been  developed  for  dwellings,  country  houses,  and  in- 
dustrial purposes. 

Cottages  are  erected  by  a  co-operative  building 
society  and  are  rented  to  members  only,  at  from  $62 
to  $150  annually.  Each  cottage  has  a  garden,  a  cel- 
lar, a  separate  scullery,  with  water,  gas,  and  electric 


172  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

light.  The  smallest  cottages  contain  four  rooms — 
a  kitchen  and  living-room  on  the  ground  floor,  and 
two  bedrooms  on  the  upper  floor.  The  houses  con- 
tain the  most  compact  equipment  for  heating,  for 
cooking  and  laundry  purposes.  In  order  to  become  a 
member  of  the  society  stock  to  the  amount  of  $47.60 
must  be  subscribed  for.  In  another  quarter  of  the 
village  villas  and  residences  are  being  built,  to  rent 
for  from  $200  to  $500  a  year.  These  contain  steam 
heat,  warm  water,  and  other  conveniences.  AH  of 
the  houses  are  built  by  the  garden-city  company, 
and  are  let  on  a  basis  sufficient  to  pay  interest  on 
the  value  of  the  land  and  building  and  the  ultimate 
repayment  of  the  cost. 

The  whole  village  is  laid  out  like  the  garden-cities 
of  England.  Artistic  effects  are  secured  through  a 
building  commission  which  passes  upon  all  archi- 
tects' plans.  In  connection  with  the  village  is  a 
physical  training  institute.  There  are  schools  for 
younger  children,  while  an  agricultural  college  is 
planned.  In  two  years'  time  the  population  has 
grown  to  2,000. 

The  success  of  Hellerau  has  led  to  the  organization 
of  other  garden-city  societies  in  different  parts  of 
the  empire. 

Karlsruhe  started  a  suburban  garden-city  in  1911 
of  30  acres  of  land,  and  Ratshof  with  500  acres,  and 
a  building  project  of  55  houses.  Nuremberg  and 
Munich  have  laid  out  165  and  200  acres,  respectively, 


THE  HOUSING  PROBLEM  IN  GERMANY    173 

along  garden-city  Knes.  Nuremberg  plans  the  erec- 
tion of  74  houses,  while  the  Munich  project  involves 
the  ultimate  housing  of  from  twelve  to  thirteen  thou- 
sand people.  All  of  these  undertakings  are  financed 
by  direct  action  of  the  municipality  or  through  co- 
operative associations  supplied  with  funds  at  a  low 
rate  of  interest  by  the  municipal  savings-bank  and 
the  insurance  department  of  the  empire. 

One  of  the  promoters  of  the  German  garden-city 
describes  the  motives  underlying  these  new  experi- 
ments as  follows: 

"  We  understand,  then,  by  a  garden  city  or  garden 
suburb,  not  a  pleasant  town  or  suburb  with  a  few 
gardens  within  its  walls.  Nor  has  the  term  any- 
thing to  do  with  the  colonies  or  villas  which  land 
speculators  adorn  with  the  name  of  'garden  cities' 
in  order  to  attain  public  recognition  of  their  purely 
commercial  enterprises.  A  garden  city  is  a  sys- 
tematically planned  settlement  on  suitable  land 
which  will  be  in  the  permanent  possession,  in  the 
last  resort,  of  the  community  (state,  commune, 
society,  etc.),  in  such  a  manner  that  any  land  specu- 
lation will  be  altogether  prevented  and  the  increment 
in  value  assured  to  the  community.  The  social  and 
economic  basis  provides  and  secures  to  the  newly 
established  city  the  garden  also — (even  for  those  of 
slender  means) — and  so  makes  it  a  garden  city." 

Germany  is  attacking  the  housing  problem  in  still 
another  way.  It  is  being  treated  as  a  land  as  well 
as  a  house  problem.  And  along  with  the  building  of 
houses  by  municipalities,  state  authorities,  and  co- 


174  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

operative  associations,  the  cities  and  the  state  are 
using  the  agency  of  taxation  to  discourage  land  spec- 
ulation. This  is  one  of  the  motives  behind  the  un- 
earned increment  tax  described  elsewhere;  it  is  a 
motive  fully  appreciated  by  city  authorities  and 
housing  reformers.  Cities  tax  unimproved  land  at 
double  the  rate  imposed  on  improved  land.  By  this 
means  they  place  official  approval  upon  those  who 
build.  The  imperial  unearned  increment  tax  of  1911 
exempts  land  used  by  co-operative  societies,  munici- 
palities, and  associations  organized  to  build  small 
homes,  for  the  same  reason. 

The  world  has  only  begun  to  realize  that  taxation 
can  be  used  to  promote  a  social  pohcy,  just  as  it  has 
been  used  in  the  past  to  promote  an  industrial  policy. 
By  means  of  the  protective  tariff  we  attempt  to  en- 
courage domestic  industry  by  excluding  foreign  com- 
petition. By  means  of  high  Hcenses  and  excise  taxes 
we  seek  to  control  the  liquor  traffic,  reduce  the  num- 
ber of  saloons,  and  increase  the  cost  of  intoxicating 
liquors  to  the  consumer.  During  the  Civil  War  we 
drove  the  bank-notes  of  the  State  banks  out  of  circu- 
lation by  a  Federal  tax  of  10  per  cent.,  which  made 
their  issue  impossible. 

For  different  reasons  Germany,  England,  Austraha, 
and  Western  Canada  are  beginning  to  tax  land  mo- 
nopoly to  discourage  speculation.  Increased  taxation 
on  vacant  land  forces  the  owner  to  use  it  or  to  sell 
it  to  some  one  who  will.    The  tax  imposed  in  these 


THE  HOUSING  PROBLEM  IN  GERMANY    175 

countries  is  not  yet  very  burdensome,  but  it  has 
been  found  effective  in  discouraging  idle  landholding. 

The  Mayor's  Committee  on  Congestion  in  New 
York  a  few  years  ago  recommended  reducing  the 
tax  rate  on  improvements  to  one-half  the  rate  im- 
posed on  land,  to  encourage  building  and  discourage 
land  speculation.  It  seems  quite  obvious  that  a  tax 
on  buildings  discourages  buildings  just  as  the  Fed- 
eral tax  on  bank-notes  destroyed  their  issue.  It  is 
equally  apparent  that  the  taxation  of  idle  land  com- 
pels its  owners  to  use  it.  The  increased  taxation  of 
suburban  land  will  open  it  up  for  homes,  for  market- 
gardening,  for  all  sorts  of  purposes.  It  will  make 
jobs  for  more  men,  and  this,  in  turn,  will  increase 
the  labor  demand  and  improve  the  standard  of  living 
of  the  workers. 

This  policy  of  land  value  taxation  will  destroy  the 
psychological  motive,  referred  to  earlier  in  the  chap- 
ter, which  obstructs  the  building  of  houses.  For  if 
we  tax  land  heavily  enough  there  will  be  less  reason  for 
holding  it  idle  in  the  hope  of  speculative  gain.  Men 
will  be  compelled  by  economic  necessity  to  use  their 
land.  It  will  not  be  possible  to  erect  tax-earners 
which  disfigure  the  community,  or  to  hold  a  growing 
city  close  confined  within  narrow  limits.  Taxation 
will  offset  the  hope  of  speculative  profits.  Land- 
owners will  be  driven  by  the  same  forces  that,  drive 
automobile  builders  to  perfect  their  output;  they 
will  be  driven  by  necessity  to  build,  and  when  that 


176  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

time  comes  the  building  of  houses  will  be  like  any 
other  competitive  industry. 

If  we  compel  owTiers  to  build,  the  housing  problem 
will  take  care  of  itself.  There  will  be  no  need  of 
municipal  dwellings;  Httle  need  of  tenement  regula- 
tion. Competition  will  take  care  of  this.  At  the 
same  time  the  art  of  house  building  will  become  a 
real  art,  as  it  must  become  if  houses  seek  tenants  in- 
stead of  tenants  seeking  houses.  It  will  awaken 
architects,  artists,  and  decorators.  Then  men  will 
build  houses  that  combine  use  with  beauty,  variety 
with  comfort — houses  that  reflect  the  inteUigence  of 
the  modern  world. 

And  the  conditions  which  now  prevail  in  housing 
can  only  be  reversed  by  some  such  pressure  as  this, 
that  will  increase  the  supply  so  that  tenants  will  al- 
ways have  a  choice.  If  landlords  compete  for  ten- 
ants just  as  business  men  compete  for  buyers,  then 
a  new  type  of  house  will  be  erected;  then  the  tene- 
ment will  be  improved  of  necessity,  while  the  com- 
petition of  suburban  land  will  lower  rents  to  all 
classes.  And  this  condition  of  competition  by  land- 
lords for  tenants  can  only  be  brought  about  by  two 
means:  either  by  the  erection  of  dwellings  by  the 
community  in  competition  with  private  owners,  or 
by  such  a  hea\7'  taxation  of  land  values  that  land 
cannot  be  kept  out  of  productive  use. 


CHAPTER  X 

SOCIALIZING  THE  MEANS  OF  TRANSIT 

Tra-nsportation  is  a  private  business  in  America. 
In  Germany  and  England  it  is  more  of  a  social  agency. 
It  is  an  agency  closely  related  to  the  housing  of  the 
people,  the  distribution  of  population  and  the  increase 
in  opportunities  for  more  wholesome  living  and  play. 
All  the  countries  of  Europe,  with  the  exception  of 
Great  Britain  and  France,  own  the  steam  railways, 
while  outside  of  France  and  Belgium  the  street  rail- 
ways are  generally  in  public  hands.  Officials  treat 
the  means  of  transit  as  integral  parts  of  the  streets 
and  highways  which  control  the  place  as  well  as  the 
way  in  which  people  live.  Transit  fixes  rents.  It  de- 
termines the  comfort,  the  health,  and  physical  well- 
being  of  the  community.  Even  the  morals  of  the 
city  are  related  to  the  means  of  transportation,  be- 
cause of  their  close  connection  with  housing,  conges- 
tion, and  opportunities  for  recreation. 

For  the  means  of  transit  control  urban  life.  They 
determine  the  height  of  buildings  and  the  nature  of 
construction.  It  was  belated  transit  facilities  that 
shot  up  the  tenement  and  the  skyscraper.  It  inten- 
sified land  values  and  created  the  slum.    People  had 

177 


178  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

to  build  toward  the  heavens  because  they  could  not 
build  along  the  ground. 

High  rents  and  inadequate  housing  are  the  costli- 
est burdens  of  private  ownership  of  the  means  of 
transit.  Excessive  fares,  fictitious  capitalization,  all 
these  are  far  less  burdensome  to  the  community  than 
the  artificial,  unsanitary,  and  unwholesome  living 
conditions  which  the  close  crowding  of  people  creates. 
And  these  conditions  are  largely  traceable  to  the 
private  ownership  of  transit. 

Railways  and  elevated  Hues  in  Europe  are  built 
into  the  city  as  though  they  were  its  circulatory 
system.  They  do  not  offend  the  eye;  do  not  de- 
stroy whole  sections  of  the  community  with  ugly 
approaches,  bad  terminals,  and  unsightly  overhead 
work.  The  stations  are  things  of  beauty  as  weU  as 
of  use,  while  the  water-fronts,  when  occupied  by 
tracks  and  terminals,  are  protected  from  destruction 
by  them.  Grade  crossings  have  everywhere  been 
eliminated  for  the  protection  of  life.  And  the  over- 
head work  is  designed  by  artists,  so  that  the  elevated 
structures  of  Germany,  Belgium,  and  France  are 
adornments  to  the  city.  Everywhere  service  is  the 
paramount  consideration.  Industry  is  encouraged 
by  cheap  rates,  while  travel  is  made  as  cheap  and 
comfortable  as  possible.  The  engineer,  the  artist,  and 
the  administrator  unite  in  the  development  of  trans- 
portation facilities  as  a  social  rather  than  a  merely 
profit-making  enterprise. 


SOCIALIZING  THE  MEANS  OF  TRANSIT     179 

Of  the  fifty  largest  cities  in  Germany  twenty-three 
operate  the  street  railways,  while  of  a  similar  num- 
ber in  Great  Britain  forty-two  operate  them.  In 
neither  of  these  countries  is  there  any  movement 
away  from  municipal  ownership,  even  where  the  most 
rigid  regulation  is  possible.  For  experience  has 
shown  that  regulation  touches  only  the  evils  of  over- 
capitalization, excessive  charges,  and  obviously  bad 
service.  Private  ownership  does  not  permit  the 
city  to  build  in  a  far-sighted  way  or  to  treat  transit 
as  an  integral  part  of  city  building. 

German  cities  adopted  ownership,  just  as  they  did 
in  Great  Britain,  after  a  test  of  private  ownership. 
Franchises  were  originally  granted  to  private  corpo- 
rations for  from  twenty-five  to  forty  years.  But  con- 
flicts were  constant  over  the  same  questions  that 
arise  in  this  country.  Employees  were  overworked 
and  underpaid.  The  service  was  unsatisfactory. 
Cities  desired  extensions  into  the  suburbs  in  con- 
nection with  their  housing  programmes.  The  cor- 
porations, on  the  other  hand,  resisted  such  exten- 
sions; they  tried  to  restrain  the  city  within  narrow 
limits,  as  short  hauls  increase  car-mile  earnings.  For 
it  is  the  car-mile  rather  than  the  gross  earnings  that 
determine  street-railway  profits.  High  car-mile  earn- 
ings mean  high  dividends.  Low  car-mile  earnings 
mean  small  dividends.  That  is  the  reason  for  street- 
car crowding.  It  explains  the  strap-hanger.  It  is 
always  to  the  interest  of  street  railways  to  congest 


180  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

population  in  the  smallest  possible  compass.  It  is 
to  the  interest  of  the  community,  on  the  other  hand, 
to  distribute  population  as  widely  as  possible.  Herein 
is  an  inevitable  conflict  between  the  community  and 
private  interest  in  the  business  of  transportation. 
It  is  this  that  makes  it  essentially  a  public  function, 
for  no  matter  what  the  regulation,  this  conflict  of 
interest  precludes  the  harmonious  adjustment  of  the 
private  to  the  public  interest  in  the  matter  of  transit. 
This  conflict  does  not  exist  to  the  same  extent  in 
other  pubHc  utihties. 

Transfer  to  public  ownership  in  Germany  was  gen- 
erally coincident  with  the  change  from  horse  to  elec- 
tric traction.  This  enabled  the  cities  to  acquire  the 
properties  at  a  relatively  low  valuation  before  the 
corporations  had  appropriated  the  economies  and 
increased  earnings  which  followed  the  electrification 
of  the  lines.  And  everywhere  the  change  has  been  fol- 
lowed by  improvement  in  service.  This  is  obvious, 
even  to  the  casual  traveller,  as  he  passes  from  Diis- 
seldorf,  Cologne,  Frankfort,  and  Dresden  to  Ham- 
burg and  Berlin.  The  public  lines  are  more  perma- 
nently constructed  than  the  private  ones.  Cars  are 
better,  cleaner,  and  more  comfortable.  The  employ- 
ees are  more  courteous.  Everywhere  tracks  are  laid 
flush  with  the  pavement,  while  girder-grooved  rails 
are  universally  used.  There  is  scarcely  any  noise 
from  worn-out  cars  or  bad  tracks.  Some  cities  have 
abolished    street-car    advertisements.    And    in    all 


SOCIALIZING  THE  MEANS  OF  TRANSIT     181 

these  cities  the  strap-hanger  is  not  permitted.  There 
are  no  "step  forward,"  "step  lively"  orders  from 
the  conductors.  This  is  true  even  during  rush  hours. 
Comfort  and  convenience  are  studied  in  construction 
as  well  as  in  operation.  The  artist  confers  with  the 
builder  in  the  designing  of  cars,  in  the  building  of 
waiting-rooms  to  protect  the  people  from  inclement 
weather,  as  well  as  in  the  signs  along  the  route  which 
indicate  the  destination  of  cars.  In  the  wider  streets 
the  tracks  are  sodded  with  grass  to  keep  down  the 
dust  and  reduce  the  noise. 

The  zone  system  of  fares  prevails  in  Germany  as 
it  does  in  Great  Britain,  the  rate  being  generally  23^ 
cents,  which  includes  the  right  of  transfer.  Beyond 
the  city  limits  higher  fares  are  charged.  But  the  aver- 
age fare  is  much  lower  than  in  this  country.  There 
is  a  curious  custom  in  Germany  of  feeing  conductors, 
in  consequence  of  which  wages  are  lower  than  they 
are  in  England,  although  they  are  higher  than  under 
private  operation. 

Dresden  is  typical  of  other  German  cities  in  the 
number  of  devices  adopted  for  the  convenience  of 
passengers.  Even  a  stranger  can  use  the  street  rail- 
ways without  knowing  the  language  or  the  street  ar- 
rangement. Each  of  the  eighteen  lines  is  designated 
by  a  number  instead  of  by  name.  Cars  on  the  even- 
numbered  routes  are  painted  red,  while  those  on  the 
odd-numbered  routes  are  painted  yellow.  The  num- 
ber is  conspicuously  displayed  on  the  car,  as  are  the 


182  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

general  route  names,  which  are  indicated  by  signs  on 
the  sides.  Within  the  car  is  a  map,  on  one  side 
of  which  are  shown  the  routes  of  all  the  car  lines  to- 
gether with  their  numbers,  while  on  the  opposite 
side  are  the  various  zones  into  which  the  city  is 
divided. 

There  are  two  belt  lines  which  intersect  all  other 
lines  and  make  every  part  of  the  city  accessible  with 
a  maximum  of  two  transfers.  Cars  are  supplied  with 
clocks  furnished  as  an  advertisement.  Stops  are  in- 
dicated by  red  signs  attached  to  the  lamp-posts. 
They  are  usually  in  the  middle  of  a  block,  so  as  to 
interfere  as  little  as  possible  with  traffic  at  street 
intersections.  Illuminated  index  signs  are  placed  at 
the  principal  railway  stations  for  the  convenience  of 
strangers.  The  rates  of  fare  are  arranged  according 
to  the  zone  system.  Two  cents  is  the  fare  for  a 
single  average  ride,  while  four  cents  is  the  maximum. 
Trailers  are  used  during  rush  hours  in  which  smok- 
ing is  permitted. 

In  Berlin,  where  the  lines  are  in  private  hands,  the 
service  is  excellent.  There  are  more  seats  than  pas- 
sengers at  almost  every  hour  of  the  day.  There  is 
little  or  no  overcrowding  during  rush  hours.  Not 
more  than  seven  persons  are  permitted  to  stand. 
The  rush-hour  traffic  is  handled  by  the  use  of  trailers, 
which  are  of  light  construction  but  easy-running. 
Each  car  contains  descriptive  maps  and  indicators 
arranged  so  that  the  passenger  can  tell  where  he  is 


SOCIALIZING  THE  MEANS  OF  TRANSIT     183 

as  well  as  the  route  and  destination  of  the  car.  In 
the  suburbs  tracks  are  laid  in  grass-plots  in  the  cen- 
tre of  the  street.  The  rate  of  fare  is  a  flat  charge  of 
2]/i  cents,  which  entitles  the  passenger  to  a  maxi- 
mum ride  of  thirteen  miles.  Workingmen's  tickets 
are  sold  at  the  rate  of  23.8  cents  a  week  when  used 
twice  a  day  and  for  half  that  sum  when  used  but 
once.  Tickets  for  school-children  cost  but  71.4  cents 
a  month.  Most  of  the  lines  are  so  routed  that 
transfers  are  not  necessary. 

Berlin  is  also  served  by  a  private  elevated  and  sub- 
way system  which  has  been  extended  far  into  the 
suburbs.  There  is  scarcely  any  noise  from  the  ele- 
vated lines,  as  the  tracks  are  heavily  ballasted.  The 
stations  are  completely  enclosed  from  the  weather, 
and  are  of  beautiful  design.  Those  in  conspicuous 
places  have  the  imposing  beauty  of  the  German  rail- 
way station.  The  elevated  is  called  the  "Umbrella 
of  Berlin,"  because  it  offers  a  means  of  shelter  from 
the  rain  and  the  sun,  while  the  operation  is  so  nearly 
noiseless  as  to  cause  the  minimum  annoyance  to  the 
public. 

The  city  of  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  which  began 
the  operation  of  its  lines  in  1903,  is  consciously  pro- 
moting suburban  development  through  its  tramways. 
The  new  industrial  sections,  as  well  as  the  surround- 
ing villages,  have  been  linked  with  the  city  railways 
in  a  comprehensive  way.  An  official  statement  of  the 
policy  of  the  city  in  regard  to  transit  is  as  follows: 


184  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

"  It  is  of  great  importance  that  there  is  good  tram 
connection  between  the  city  and  the  new  district. 
The  city  of  Frankfort  is  in  a  fortmiate  situation  of 
being  the  owner  of  the  tramway,  and  can  carry  out 
a  scheme  for  traffic  quite  independent  of  a  too  far- 
reaching  consideration  of  receipts.  Frankfort  will, 
therefore,  immediately  lay  down  an  electric  tram 
connection  so  that  it  will  be  already  in  use  while 
the  industrial  section  is  in  course  of  development. 
Further,  the  city  will  construct  its  own  suburban 
lines,  with  its  special  permanent  way,  which  will 
travel  with  greater  speed.  This  railway  wiU  run  to 
the  surrounding  villages,  where  the  working  classes 
can,  in  general,  live  cheaper,  better,  and  healthier 
than  in  the  city." 

The  steam-railroads  of  Germany  are  also  used  for 
the  development  of  suburbs  and  the  improvement  of 
housing  conditions.  Very  cheap  commutation  fares 
are  charged,  which  are  consciously  adjusted  for  luring 
the  working  classes  out  into  the  surrounding  country. 
One  can  live  many  miles  from  Berlin  and  travel  to 
and  fro  each  day  at  less  cost  than  that  of  surface 
transportation  in  this  country.  On  holidays  and 
Sundays  innumerable  train-loads  of  people  are  sent 
out  into  the  country  at  very  low  fares.  From  early 
morning  until  late  at  night  the  trains  are  filled  with 
families  taking  an  outing.  As  one  enters  the  crowded 
stations  or  goes  to  the  various  resorts,  it  seems  as 
though  the  whole  population  were  out  on  a  holiday. 
In  Switzerland,  Belgium,  and  Denmark  tickets  are 
sold  good  for  a  fortnight,  which  entitle  the  holder  to 


Copyiight  h-j  Viulei-irond  i(-  Cmlenruod. 


Elevated  Railway  in  Berlin  along  Canal. 

Showing  method  of  construction,  development  of  water-ways  and 
water-front  parking. 


SOCIALIZING  THE  MEANS  OF  TRANSIT     185 

travel  as  far  and  as  many  times  as  he  likes.  They 
are  designed  to  stimulate  travel  and  a  knowledge  of 
the  country.  They  are  a  kind  of  vacation  tickets, 
limited  in  time  but  not  in  distance. 

No  country  in  Europe  has  done  as  much  as  Bel- 
gium to  consciously  use  its  railroads  to  distribute  the 
working  population  out  into  the  countryside.  It  has 
done  this  by  extremely  low  fares  upon  the  state-owned 
railway  lines.  Beginning  in  1870,  the  government 
inaugurated  workingmen's  trains  on  almost  all  of  its 
lines  at  very  low  rates,  and  at  hours  to  suit  the  con- 
venience of  the  work-people  going  to  and  returning 
from  their  work.  A  man  may  live  six  miles  in  the 
country  and  travel  to  and  from  his  work  six  days  a 
week  for  24  cents;  he  can  hve  31  miles  and  pay  but 
43  cents,  and  he  can  live  62  miles  and  pay  but  60 
cents  a  week.    This  is  for  two  trips  a  day. 

While  the  ordinary  fare  in  a  third-class  compart- 
ment is  58  cents  for  a  single  return  journey  of  31 
miles,  a  workman  can  travel  this  same  distance  to 
and  fro  six  days  in  the  week  for  43  cents. 

This  has  worked  a  profound  revolution  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  workmen.  In  1870,  when  the  system 
was  inaugurated,  14,223  tickets  were  sold,  and  in 
twenty  years'  time  their  number  has  increased  to 
4,515,214. 

The  great  majority  of  these  tickets  are  sold  to  men 
who  make  six  journeys  a  week  to  and  from  their 
homes.    It  is  estimated  that  from  ninety  thousand 


186  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

to  one  hundred  thousand  workmen,  or  a  ninth  of  the 
total  industrial  population,  travel  daily  on  the  state 
railways  to  and  from  their  work.  They  live  in  the 
country  and  enjoy  some  of  the  advantages  of  living 
on  a  farm. 

The  effect  of  this  policy  has  been  described  by 
Emile  Vandervelde  in  these  words: 

"Nothing  surprises  the  traveller  who  goes  from 
London  to  Brussels  more  than  the  contrast  between 
the  solitary  stretches  of  pasture  in  Kent  and  the  ani- 
mated landscapes  in  the  neighborhood  of  Belgian 
towns.  Enter  Hesbaye  or  Flanders  from  whatever 
side  one  may,  the  countrj^  is  everywhere  thickly 
strewn  with  white,  red-roofed  houses ;  some  of  them 
standing  alone,  others  Ijong  close  together  in  popu- 
lous villages.  If,  however,  one  spends  a  day  in  one 
of  the  \dllages — I  mean  one  of  those  in  which  there 
is  no  local  industry — one  hardly  sees  a  grown-up 
workman  in  the  place,  and  almost  believes  that  the 
population  consists  nearly  entirely  of  old  people  and 
children.  But  in  the  evening  quite  a  different  pict- 
ure is  seen.  We  find  ourselves,  for  example,  some 
twelve  or  thirteen  miles  from  Brussels  at  a  smaD  rail- 
way station  in  Brabant,  say  Rixensast,  Genval,  or 
La  Hulpe.  A  train  of  inordinate  length,  consisting 
almost  entirely  of  third-class  carriages,  runs  in. 
From  the  rapidly  opened  doors  stream  crowds  of 
workmen,  in  dusty,  dirty  clothes,  who  cover  all  the 
platform  as  they  rush  to  the  doors,  apparently  in 
feverish  eagerness  to  be  the  first  to  reach  home,  where 
supper  awaits  them.  And  eveiy  quarter  of  an  hour, 
from  the  beginning  of  dusk  till  well  into  the  night, 
trains  follow  trains,  discharge  part  of  their  human 


SOCIALIZING  THE  MEANS  OF  TRANSIT     187 

freight,  and  at  all  the  villages  along  the  line  set  down 
troops  of  workmen — masons,  plasterers,  paviors,  car- 
penters with  their  tool-bags  on  their  backs.  Else- 
where it  is  colliers,  miners,  workmen  in  rolling-mills 
and  foundries,  who  are  coming  from  the  Mons  dis- 
trict, or  Charleroi  or  Liege,  some  of  them  obliged  to 
travel  sixty  or  seventy  miles  to  reach  their  homes  in 
some  world-forgotten  nook  in  Flanders  or  Limburg. 
And  on  other  parts  of  the  railway,  in  Campine,  in 
Flanders  or  the  Ardennes,  Antwerp  dock-laborers, 
weavers  in  the  Roubaix  and  Tourcoing  factories, 
metal-workers,  travel  daily  into  France,  and  when 
their  day's  work  is  done  return  to  the  country  place 
where  they  find  their  beds.  In  short,  in  Belgium, 
there  are  few  villages  which  do  not  contain  a  group 
of  industrial  workers  who  work  at  a  distance,  and 
often  at  a  great  distance,  from  their  homes." 

A  study  of  the  Em^opean  city  compels  a  readjust- 
ment of  one's  ideas  of  municipal  ownership.  Instead 
of  inefficiency  one  finds  efficiency.  In  the  place  of 
indifference  to  improvements  the  city  is  more  open- 
minded  than  are  the  private  managers.  The  public 
employees  are  more  courteous  than  are  the  private 
ones,  while  officials  are  constantly  on  the  alert  to 
increase  the  comfort  and  convenience  of  the  people. 

In  addition  to  the  other  advantages,  public  owner- 
ship enables  cities  to  experiment  in  a  way  that  is  not 
possible  under  private  management.  They  ascertain 
for  themselves  as  to  what  the  service  costs.  They 
have  also  been  able  to  introduce  many  new  devices. 
And  improvement  has  almost  always  followed  the 


188  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

change  from  private  to  public  hands.  With  cheap 
and  adequate  credit,  and  with  no  fear  of  franchise 
expirations,  the  city  builds  for  permanence.  And 
the  pubHcly  owned  Unes  are  far  in  advance  of  the 
private  ones  in  this  respect.  Almost  everywhere  in 
Europe  the  means  of  transit  have  taken  their  place 
alongside  of  health,  police,  and  fire  administration 
as  natural  activities  of  the  community,  and  as  in- 
separably bound  up  with  a  proper  city  programme. 


CHAPTER  XI 

NEW  SOURCES  OF  REVENUE;  THE  UNEARNED 
INCREMENT  TAXES 

All  over  the  world  governments  are  seeking  new 
sources  of  revenue  with  which  to  satisfy  demands  for 
war  and  naval  purposes  as  well  as  the  social  legisla- 
tion which  industrial  conditions  have  created.  All 
over  the  world,  too,  protests  are  being  made  against 
the  injustice  of  customs  and  excise  taxes,  exacted 
mostly  from  the  poor;  against  the  many  indirect 
taxes  that  have  come  down  to  us  from  feudal  times. 

And  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  a  tendency  is 
manifest  to  return  to  the  sources  from  which  all  rev- 
enues came  in  early  times;  to  the  taxation  of  the  land 
itself,  which  for  centuries  was  almost  the  only  source 
of  state  and  local  revenues. 

The  beginning  of  the  movement  for  the  taxation 
of  land  values  in  Germany  is  generally  ascribed  to 
the  activity  of  the  Bund  der  Boden  Reformer,  or  Land 
Reform  Society,  of  which  Dr.  Adolf  Damaschke,  of 
Berlin,  is  the  leader,  while  the  first  experiment  with 
the  unearned  increment  tax,  or  wertzuwachssteuer,  was 
in  a  distant  Asiatic  colony.    In  1898  Germany  ac- 

189 


190  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

quired  the  harbor  of  Kiaotchau  from  China  under  a 
lease  for  ninety-nine  years,  with  all  the  rights  of  sov- 
ereignty. The  area  of  the  concession  was  160  square 
miles.  In  twelve  years'  time  Kiaotchau  has  become 
one  of  the  most  successful  German  colonies.  The 
harbor  is  said  to  be  the  finest  in  eastern  Asia,  not 
even  excepting  Hong-Kong,  while  the  city  has  been 
planned  in  a  comprehensive  way  by  experts  on  the 
subject.  Its  trade  has  grown  with  phenomenal  ra- 
pidity, the  exports  having  increased  from  $1,650,000 
(Chinese  dollars)  in  1899  to  $15,143,847  in  1907,  while 
the  total  trade  of  the  port  increased  from  $6,000,000 
to  $51,000,000  during  the  same  period. 

German  land  reformers  trace  the  success  of  the 
harbor  to  the  land  and  taxing  policy  adopted  on  its 
transfer  to  German  authorities.  At  least  the  ex- 
perience of  Kiaotchau  is  constantly  cited  as  proof  of 
the  wisdom  of  taxing  land  values.  The  admiral  com- 
manding the  German  squadron.  Von  Diederichs,  and 
the  Chinese  commissary.  Doctor  Schrameier,  were 
both  members  of  the  German  Land  Reform  Society. 
They  saw  that  the  harbor  was  bound  to  grow,  and 
that  land  speculation  would  ine\dtably  follow.  They 
appreciated  that  the  growth  of  the  harbor  might  be 
checked  by  real-estate  speculators,  and  that  the 
community  itself  might  be  enriched  if  it  retained 
the  speculative  profits  itself.  A  German  wiiter^ 
describes  the  means  employed  to  prevent  specula- 

»  R.  Ockel,  in  Weslminster  Review,  July,  1908. 


NEW   SOURCES  OF   REVENUE  191 

tion  and  encourage  the  development  of  the  harbor 
as  follows : 

"The  system  of  land  tenure  adopted  in  Kiaotchau 
is  largely  responsible  for  this  phenomenal  rise  of  a 
previously  unknown  place.  On  taking  over  the  land 
at  the  price  ruling  before  the  seizure  by  the  German 
Government,  the  order  of  the  2nd  September,  1898, 
stipulated  that  the  buyer  of  land  shall  pay  a  tax  of 
33  per  cent,  on  the  increased  value,  and  that  if  a 
plot  of  land  is  not  sold  for  twenty-five  years,  the 
owners  shall  pay  a  tax  of  33  per  cent,  on  the  increased 
value  found  by  assessment  to  have  taken  place.  The 
owner  of  land  has  to  give  notice  of  any  intended  sale, 
and  (in  order  to  prevent  under-assessment)  the  Gov- 
ernment has  the  first  option  to  buy  at  the  owner's 
figure.  In  addition,  every  land-owner  has  to  pay  each 
year  a  tax  of  6  per  cent,  of  the  capital  value  of  his 
land.  The  owner's  valuation  is  taken,  but  again  (in 
order  to  avoid  under-assessment),  the  Government 
has  the  right  to  buy  at  the  owner's  figure.  This  tax 
effectually  stops  all  speculation  in  land,  and  prevents 
the  holding  of  land  idle.  The  withholding  of  land 
from  use  is  further  checked  by  the  regulation  that, 
if  land  is  not  being  built  upon  at  a  certain  date,  in 
accordance  with  the  stipulated  plan  of  building,  the 
owner  forfeits  his  right  of  property,  and  the  Govern- 
ment takes  it  back,  paying  only  half  the  assessed 
value.  Instead  of  forfeiting  the  right  of  property, 
the  order  of  December  31,  1903,  imposes  a  progres- 
sive land  value  tax,  which  effects  the  same  purpose 
of  forcing  the  land  into  use." 

The  motive  of  these  taxes  was  to  discourage  any 
one  from  acquiring  land  except  for  use,  and  at  the 


192  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

same  time  to  compel  purchasers  to  use  their  holdings 
in  a  productive  way.  Land  speculation  is  made 
costly  rather  than  profitable;  for  no  one  but  the  com- 
munity can  hold  land  idle  in  the  expectation  of  spec- 
ulative gains. 

Prior  to  this  experiment  Germany  had  been  famil- 
iarized with  the  idea  of  taxing  land  values  by  the 
work  of  Professor  Adolf  Wagner,  of  the  University 
of  Berlin,  probably  the  leading  authority  on  finance 
in  Germany,  who  had  advocated  the  taxation  of  the 
unearned  increment  of  land  for  years. 

Prior  to  1893  German  communities  assessed  real 
property  on  the  income  it  actually  produced,  rather 
than  on  its  actual  value  for  purposes  of  sale.  This 
was  the  universal  practice  in  Europe,  as  it  still  is  in 
many  other  countries.  About  twenty  years  ago  the 
interior  department  of  Prussia  issued  an  order  based 
upon  an  act  of  the  Prussian  diet  advising  cities  and 
smaller  local  di\'isions  to  assess  land  according  to  its 
selling  value  instead  of  upon  the  rent  derived  from 
it.  Within  a  few  years  350  communities  adopted 
the  new  system  of  valuation  in  the  face  of  the  hos- 
tility of  speculators  and  large  land-owners.  Rev- 
enues from  real-estate  taxes  increased  greatly.  In 
Breslau  they  sprang  from  $2,530  in  1898  to  $79,000 
in  1899.  In  Schoenberg  receipts  increased  from  $356 
in  1895  to  $56,724  in  1902.  In  Kattawitz  they  in- 
creased from  $93  in  1901  to  $8,506  in  1902.  "The 
result,"  a  German  writer  says,  "has  been  to  discour- 


NEW  SOURCES  OF  REVENUE  193 

age  the  holding  up  of  land  and  to  open  to  both  labor 
and  capital  further  avenues  of  employment.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  hardly  any  unemployed  are  to  be 
found  at  present  in  Germany,  and  a  scarcity  of  labor 
has  set  in  that  seriously  troubles  many  an  employer."  ^ 

The  periodical  valuation  of  the  land  at  its  selling 
value  made  it  possible  to  introduce  the  unearned  in- 
crement tax,  or  wertzuwachssteuer.  It  disclosed  to 
the  authorities  the  increasing  value  of  city  land,  and 
confirmed  the  claims  of  land  reformers  that  here  was 
an  untapped  source  of  revenue  for  local  purposes. 

German  cities  have  great  freedom  in  local  matters 
and  wide  latitude  in  the  matter  of  taxation.  In  1904 
the  city  of  Frankfort-on-the-Main  evolved  the  un- 
earned increment  tax,  which  in  a  few  years'  time 
spread  to  nearly  every  large  city  in  Germany.  It  is 
not  the  single  tax  of  Henry  George,  and  it  has  awa- 
kened little  enthusiasm  among  his  followers,  although 
it  is  a  partial  appropriation  by  the  community  of  the 
values  which  the  community  creates.  For  the  single 
tax  would  collect  all  the  needed  revenue  of  city,  state, 
and  nation  from  the  land,  irrespective  of  any  increase 
in  value.  By  so  doing  it  would  force  land  into  use 
and  prevent  speculation. 

The  single  tax  is  primarily  a  social  philosophy  and 
only  incidentally  a  means  of  collecting  revenues. 
The  wertzuwachssteuer,  on  the  other  hand,  is  pri- 

»"The  Taxation  of  Land  Values  in  Germany,"  R.  Ockel,  Weat- 
minster  Review,  London,  July,  1907. 


194  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

marily  a  revenue  measure;  although  it  does  dis- 
courage land  speculation. 

Under  the  municipal  ordinances  of  Frankfort  the 
following  land  taxes  were  collected.  First,  on  every 
change  of  ownership  a  tax  of  2  per  cent,  is  paid  on 
the  selling  price  of  the  property.  This  is  simply  a 
transfer  tax,  irrespective  of  whether  the  property  has 
increased  in  value  or  not.  Second,  the  unearned  in- 
crement taxes  were  di\'ided  into  two  classes:  (1)  those 
on  the  increase  in  the  value  of  land,  which  continues 
without  transfer  in  the  hands  of  the  same  owner,  and 
(2)  taxes  upon  speculative  profits  realized  from  its 
sale.  In  the  first  case  an  ad-valorem  tax  of  from 
1  to  6  per  cent,  is  imposed  upon  the  increase  in  value, 
the  tax  upon  land  which  is  improved  or  built  upon 
being  about  one-half  of  the  tax  upon  land  which  is 
not  improved  and  is  held  idle.  This  is  to  encourage 
improvements.  The  rates  upon  profits  made  from 
the  sale  of  land  are  higher,  and  range  from  2  per  cent, 
to  25  per  cent.,  depending  upon  the  size  of  the  profits 
and  the  time  in  which  they  are  realized. 

These  taxes  were  only  imposed  when  twenty  years 
elapsed  between  changes  of  ownership,  and  where  the 
increase  in  value  is  more  than  15  per  cent.  The 
seller  is  held  responsible  for  the  tax. 

The  new  tax  has  swept  over  Germany  with  great 
rapidity,  and  indicates  the  way  new  ideas  are  adopted 
in  that  country  as  well  as  the  indifference  of  ofli- 
cials  to  property  interests  that  stand  in  the  way  of 


NEW  SOURCES  OF  REVENUE  195 

the  city's  welfare.  Community  after  community 
adopted  it  until,  in  April,  1910,  the  tax  had  been  intro- 
duced into  cities  and  towns  with  an  aggregate  popu- 
lation of  15,000,000.  Nor  is  there  any  substantial 
protest  against  it,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  real-estate 
interests  are  active  in  city  politics  as  well  as  the  pro- 
vision of  the  Prussian  law  that  one-half  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  city  council  must  be  owners  of  real  estate. 
The  tax  meets  with  all  but  universal  approval. 

Mr.  Robert  C.  Brooks,  writing  in  the  Quarterly 
Journal  of  Economics,  states  that,  following  its  adop- 
tion— 

"the  new  tax  started  upon  a  triumphal  progress 
through  the  German  municipalities.  Before  the  end 
of  1907  it  had  been  introduced  by  eleven  cities, 
among  which,  besides  Cologne,  the  more  consider- 
able were  Dortmund,  Essen,  and  Frankfurt-am-Main. 
Since  that  date  the  accessions  have  continued  with 
increasing  rapidity  until  by  April  1,  1910,  no  fewer 
than  457  German  cities  and  towns  had  adopted  the 
unearned  increment  tax.  In  Prussia  alone  159  cities 
and  13  rural  counties  had  introduced  it  prior  to  1910. 
As  the  new  form  of  taxation  found  most  favor  in  rap- 
idly growing  places  of  large  and  considerable  popu- 
lation the  true  significance  of  the  foregoing  is  greater 
than  the  bare  figures  might  indicate.  Of  the  Prus- 
sian cities  and  towns  which  had  introduced  the  tax 
prior  to  April  1,  1910,  27  had  more  than  100,000  in- 
habitants, 72  between  20,000  and  100,000,  and  64  be- 
tween 5,000  and  20,000.  Berlin  (2,018,279  popula- 
tion), after  rejecting  the  new  principle  in  1907,  finally 
accepted  it  in  March,  1910.    Nearly  all  the  hustling 


196  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

suburbs  of  the  metropolis  had  anticipated  it  in  this 
action.  Among  other  large  cities  not  already  men- 
tioned which  have  introduced  the  unearned  increment 
tax  are  Hamburg  (874,878  population),  Leipsic  (503,- 
672),  Breslau  (470,904),  Kiel  (163,772),  and  Wies- 
baden (100,953)."  1 

In  1909  the  Reichstag  considered  the  advisability 
of  adopting  the  unearned  increment  tax  for  imperial 
purposes,  but  action  on  the  measure  was  delayed  to 
enable  the  government  to  study  its  workings  in  the 
cities.  In  February,  1911,  the  proposal  became  a 
law,  with  the  approval  of  all  parties  save  the  Social 
Democrats,  the  Cathohcs,  and  a  portion  of  the  In- 
dependents, the  vote  in  the  Reichstag  being  199  for 
its  passage  to  93  against  it. 

The  Imperial  law  is  an  adaptation  of  the  ordinances 
of  the  cities.  Sales  of  land  in  individual  parcels  of 
5,000  marks  ($1,250)  are  exempt,  as  are  large  parcels 
of  20,000  marks  ($5,000).  Land  held  by  public  au- 
thorities, by  housing  associations  which  limit  their 
return  to  4  per  cent.,  and  holdings  of  philanthropic 
associations  are  exempt.  These  exceptions  are  de- 
signed to  encourage  the  building  of  homes  and  the 

^  "The  German  Imperial  Tax  on  the  Unearned  Increment,"  Quar" 
terly  Journal  of  Economics,  August,  1911.  See  also  a  prior  article  by 
the  same  author  entitled,  "The  New  Unearned  Increment  Taxes  in 
Germany,"  Yale  Review,  vol.  XVI,  p.  236,  November,  1907. 

A  number  of  reports  on  the  local  ordinances  of  German  cities  are 
to  be  found  in  a  special  consular  repwrt  entitled  "  Municipal  Taxa- 
tion in  Foreign  Countries."  Vol.  XLII.  Issued  by  the  Bureau  of 
Manufactures,  Washington.  For  the  latest  information  on  the  sub- 
ject see  Daily  Consular  and  Trade  Report,  June  22,  1912. 


NEW  SOURCES  OF  REVENUE  197 

promotion  of  co-operative  and  municipal  housing 
schemes  described  elsewhere. 

The  basis  of  the  tax  is  arrived  at  from  the  follow- 
ing facts:  first,  the  price  paid  for  the  property  at 
the  last  sale;  second,  the  cost  of  the  permanent  im- 
provements which  have  been  placed  upon  it  by  the 
owner;  and  third,  the  selling  price.  The  unearned 
increment  or  profits  subject  to  the  tax  is  the  differ- 
ence between  the  selling  price  and  the  sum  of  the 
other  two  items.  The  measure  was  opposed  by  the 
land  speculators  and  real  estate  interests,  who  suc- 
ceeded in  so  amending  it  that  its  friends  claimed  it 
"had  no  teeth  in  it." 

Increases  in  value  are  calculated  from  December 
31,  1910,  to  catch  a  large  number  of  sales  made  dur- 
ing the  consideration  of  the  measure.  Stock  corpora- 
tions had  also  been  formed  to  anticipate  the  law,  and 
the  measure  was  made  retroactive  as  to  such  transfers 
by  being  made  apphcable  to  all  sales  subsequent 
to  March  31,  1905,  about  the  time  of  the  adoption 
of  the  first  municipal  ordinances.  Finally  the  law 
reaches  back  to  January  1,  1885,  to  ascertain  the 
price  on  which  increments  are  calculated.  And  if 
no  sale  had  taken  place  subsequent  to  that  date  the 
valuation  of  the  property  as  of  January  1,  1885,  is 
taken  as  the  base  line  from  which  increases  are  to 
be  estimated. 

Included  in  the  improvements  which  may  be  de- 
ducted are  all  permanent  betterments  as  well  as  all 


198  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

assessments  paid  by  the  owner  for  sewers,  street 
improvements,  and  other  municipal  betterments. 
Other  exceptions  of  a  rather  compUcated  kind  are 
permitted  which  include  ordinary  carrying  charges 
at  a  fLxed  per  cent,  on  the  investment,  as  well  as  the 
costs  of  the  transfer.  In  addition  the  whole  incre- 
ment is  exempt  unless  it  has  advanced  at  a  rate  of 
from  4  to  5  per  cent,  a  year.  The  rate  of  the  tax 
imposed  depends  on  the  percentage  of  the  unearned 
increment  to  the  purchase  price  subject  to  the  exemp- 
tions referred  to. 

Consul-General  A.  M.  Thackera  of  Berlin  describes 
the  new  law  and  the  rates  of  taxation  imposed  as 
follows :  ^ 

"The  rate  of  taxation  varies  from  10  to  30  per  cent. 
The  highest  rate  is  imposed  when  the  value  of  the 
real  estate  has  increased  290  per  cent,  or  more,  and 
the  lowest  rate  when  the  increase  is  less  than  10  per 
cent."  The  table  on  nexi;  page  gives  the  rate  of  tax- 
ation. 

"The  high  rates  are  rarely  assessed,  as  large  in- 
creases in  value  occur  only  after  the  real  estate  has 
been  held  by  the  same  owner  for  a  long  period, 
whereby,  according  to  paragraph  16  of  the  law,  there 
is  a  great  reduction  on  account  of  long  tenure.  For 
every  year  that  comes  into  consideration  in  levying 
the  tax  23^  per  cent,  is  added  to  the  value  of  real 
estate  valued  up  to  100  marks  per  are  (2.21  cents 
per  square  foot).  When  the  value  is  more  than  100 
marks  per  are,  23^  per  cent,  is  added  to  that  part 

1  Daily  Consular  and  Trade  Reports,  June  22;.  1912. 


NEW  SOURCES  OF  REVENUE 


199 


up  to  100  marks,  and  to  the  part  above  this  sum  2 
per  cent,  is  added  if  the  land  is  not  improved,  and 
1^  per  cent,  if  improved.  As  a  result  of  this  allow- 
ance any  real  estate  whose  value  is  increasing  gradu- 


Increask  op  Value 


Up  to  10  per  cent .  . 
10  to  30  per  cent. .  . 
30  to  50  per  cent. . . 
50  to  70  per  cent . . . 
70  to  90  per  cent . . . 
90  to  110  per  cent. . 
110  to  130  per  cent. 
130  to  150  per  cent. 
150  to  170  per  cent. 
170  to  190  per  cent. 
190  to  200  per  cent. 
200  to  210  per  cent. 
210  to  220  per  cent. 
220  to  230  per  cent. 
230  to  240  per  cent. 
240  to  250  per  cent. 
250  to  260  per  cent. 
260  to  270  per  cent. 
270  to  280  per  cent. 
280  to  290  per  cent. 
Over  290  per  cent .  . 


Tax  on 
Incrbabs 


Per  cent. 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
26 
27 
28 
29 
30 


ally  and  whose  ownership  remains  unchanged  is,  in 
the  event  of  a  sale,  in  part  or  wholly  relieved  from 
paying  this  tax. 

"  In  addition  to  the  foregoing  far-reaching  provision 
for  length  of  ownership,  paragraph  28  of  the  law  pro- 
vides that  the  tax  be  lessened  by  1  per  cent,  for  every 
entire  year  considered  in  assessing  the  tax.  If  the 
property  was  acquired  before  January  1,  1900,  the 
reduction  is  13^  per  cent,  a  year  for  the  whole  pe- 
riod up  to  Januaiy  1,  1911.     Commenting  upon  the 


200  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

law,  Dr.  W.  Boldt,  of  the  city  council  of  Dortmund, 
says: 

"'By  this  twofold  reduction  the  extremely  large 
gains  which  are  realized  in  the  large  cities  as  the 
result  of  original  possession  or  of  acquisition  many 
years  ago  through  speculation  are  favored  entirely 
too  much.  While  this  allowance  for  an  increase  of 
value  without  taxation,  provided  for  in  paragraph 
16  of  the  law,  is  thoroughly  approved  of  in  principle, 
it  seems  urgently  to  be  desired  that  the  reduction  of 
the  tax  provided  for  in  paragraph  28  of  the  law  should 
be  done  away  with  or  considerably  lessened  in  the 
event  of  the  revision  of  the  law.  This  reduction  of 
the  tax,  besides  favoring  the  increased  values  pro- 
vided for  in  paragraph  16,  benefits  particularly  the 
large  property-holders  and  real  estate  which  was  ac- 
quired through  speculation  many  years  ago,  as  well 
as  encouraging  the  retention  of  real  estate  in  the 
large  cities  for  speculative  purposes.' 

"Certain  transactions  are  exempted  in  levying  the 
tax,  of  which  the  following  are  the  principal :  (1)  In- 
heritances, so  far  as  this  would  cause  double  taxa- 
tion owing  to  the  inheritance-tax  law;  (2)  changes  in 
the  tenure  of  real  estate  on  account  of  marriage  or  in 
certain  other  family  transactions;  (3)  the  exchange 
of  real  estate  to  improve  the  shape  of  adjoining  prop- 
erty." 

In  the  discussion  of  the  law  it  was  frankly  admitted 
by  all  parties  that  land  values  are  created  by  the 
growth  of  the  community  rather  than  by  any  efforts  of 
the  individual.  And  representatives  in  the  Reichs- 
tag of  the  empire,  the  individual  states  and  cities,  all 
emphasized  the  extent  to  which  their  constituencies 
increased  land  values.    Each  claimed  a  share  of  the 


NEW  SOURCES  OF  REVENUE  201 

increment  as  its  own  creation.  Under  the  final  ad- 
justment it  was  provided  that  50  per  cent,  of  the 
proceeds  of  the  tax  should  go  to  the  empire,  10  per 
cent,  to  the  individual  states,  and  40  per  cent,  to  the 
cities  or  local  governments.  In  addition,  cities  were 
authorized  to  add  an  additional  local  tax  (zuschlag) 
to  that  imposed  under  the  imperial  law.  Thus  con- 
siderable freedom  was  left  to  the  cities,  while  at  the 
same  time  the  whole  unearned  increment  tax  was 
brought  under  imperial  control. 

The  history  of  the  unearned  increment  tax  indi- 
cates the  freedom  with  which  German  cities  experi- 
ment; it  indicates  the  liberty  they  enjoy  at  the  hands 
of  the  state  and  the  advantages  that  spring  from  a 
large  number  of  experiment  stations  working  on  local 
problems  in  their  own  way  rather  than  under  hard 
and  fast  rules  laid  down  by  the  state.  Out  of  the 
Frankfort  experiment  the  unearned  increment  tax 
spread  to  Great  Britain,  the  Lloyd  George  budget  of 
1909  being  in  large  part  inspired  by  German  experi- 
ence. It  has  been  adopted  or  is  being  officially  con- 
sidered in  Austria,  Switzerland,  Denmark,  and  Bel- 
gium. Germany  treats  her  cities  as  we  do  private 
business.  We  assume,  without  question,  that  the 
industrial  progress  of  America  is  largely  due  to  the 
freedom  that  private  business  enjoys,  but  we  re- 
verse this  principle  in  municipal  government  and 
assume  that  the  best  results  will  follow  from  a  rigid 
and  inelastic  control  of  the  city  by  a  distant  legislat- 


202  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

ure,  ignorant  of  local  needs,  and  quite  generally 
prejudiced  against  the  city. 

The  movement  for  the  taxation  of  land  values  has 
spread  to  our  own  continent.  In  1906  the  city  of 
Vancouver  reduced  taxes  on  houses  and  improve- 
ments by  50  per  cent.  The  results  which  followed 
were  so  generally  satisfactory  that  two  years  later 
the  tax  on  improvements  was  reduced  to  25  per  cent. 
Finally,  in  1910,  the  city  abolished  the  taxation  of 
houses,  improvements,  and  personal  property  alto- 
gether. The  result  of  the  change  was  to  greatly 
stimulate  building  operations,  and  to  some  extent  to 
discourage  land  speculation.  Idle  holdings  were 
broken  up,  and  workingmen  became  home-owners. 
New  capital  came  to  Vancouver  because  investments 
in  business  and  improvements  were  free  from  taxa- 
tion. There  was  an  increased  demand  for  labor 
which  increased  wages  and  stimulated  business. 

Vancouver  has  grown  with  wonderful  rapidity. 
Its  prosperity  is  generally  attributed  in  part  at  least 
to  the  exemption  of  capital  and  labor  from  taxation. 
Other  cities  in  western  Canada  followed  the  example 
of  Vancouver,  until  nearly  all  of  the  leading  commu- 
nities collect  their  local  revenues  from  a  single  tax 
levied  on  land  values.  These  cities  are  Edmonton, 
with  a  population  of  30,000;  Victoria,  with  60,000; 
Westminster,  with  15,000;  Lethbridge,  with  15,000; 
Prince  Rupert,  with  8,000;  and  Nanajino,  with 
6,000  people. 


NEW  SOURCES  OF  REVENUE  203 

Land- value  taxation  has  also  made  rapid  progress 
in  the  AustraHan  states.  In  1896,  New  Zealand 
passed  the  "Rating  on  Unimproved  Values  Act," 
which  is  applied  only  to  cities.  The  law  is  optional 
with  each  locality,  its  adoption  being  decided  by  ref- 
erendum of  the  voters.  Up  to  1909,  eighty  local 
bodies  had  adopted  the  provisions  of  the  act.  A 
supplementary  act  was  passed  increasing  the  rate  of 
the  tax  according  to  the  size  of  the  holdings.  The 
purpose  of  these  measures  was  to  break  up  idle  land 
holding  by  taxing  it  into  use.  The  rate  is  only  a 
penny  in  the  pound,  which  is  low  in  comparison 
with  our  rates,  but  the  principle  of  taxing  only  land 
values  has  been  established.  In  South  Australia  and 
Queensland  similar  laws  have  been  enacted,  in  the 
latter  country  all  local  rates  having  been  levied  on 
land  values  since  1891.  In  New  South  Wales,  which 
contains  one-third  of  the  population  of  Australia,  the 
tax  has  been  rapidly  ex-tended.  In  1894  a  tax  of  a 
penny  on  the  pound  was  levied  on  land  values.  In 
1905  local  communities  were  required  to  levy  the 
general  rate  on  the  unimproved  value  of  the  land, 
while  further  rating  or  taxing  of  land  values  was 
left  optional  with  the  shires  or  counties.  Almost 
without  exception,  the  one  hundred  and  sixty-one 
municipalities  have  decided  to  collect  their  local  rates 
from  land  values.  Sydney  levies  an  average  of  3^ 
pence  in  the  pound  and  other  cities  have  raised  the 
rate  as  high  as  5  pence.    As  this  method  of  assess- 


204  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

ment  can  only  be  adopted  with  the  approval  of  the 
voters,  and  as  only  real  estate  owners  are  permitted 
to  vote  on  the  question,  this  decision  is  obviously 
the  reasoned  conviction  of  the  more  conservative 
elements  of  the  community  that  speculation  rather 
than  thrift  should  be  taxed.  In  Sydney  owners  of 
improved  property  had  their  taxes  decreased  by 
from  one-third  to  two-thirds,  while  owners  of  va- 
cant land  had  their  burdens  increased  from  200  to 
500  per  cent. 

A  parHamentary  inquiry  was  made  by  Great  Brit- 
ain as  to  the  effect  of  these  new  land  taxes.  The 
testimony  of  local  officials  was  all  to  the  same  effect. 
The  report  said  building  had  been  stimulated  by 
"rendering  it  unprofitable  to  hold  land  for  prospec- 
tive increment  in  value."  The  "effect  on  urban  and 
suburban  land  has  been  very  marked,"  it  has  "  com- 
pelled owners  either  to  build  or  to  sell  to  those  who 
would  build."  An  "  owner  of  land  occupied  by  build- 
ings of  Httle  value,  finding  that  he  has  to  pay  the 
same  rates  and  taxes  as  an  owner  having  his  land 
occupied  by  a  valuable  block  of  buildings,  must  see 
that  his  interests  He  in  putting  his  land  to  its  best 
use."  The  rebuilding  of  WeUington,  the  report  says, 
"is  largely  attributable  to  the  taxation  and  rating 
of  land  values."  The  effect  on  rent  is  to  bring  it 
down  rather  than  the  reverse.  "As  the  tax  becomes 
heavier,"  the  report  continues,  "it  tends  to  bring 
into  beneficial  occupation  land  not  put  to  its  best 


NEW  SOURCES  OF  REVENUE  205 

use,  and  so  reduces  rent,  the  improvements  being 
entirely  free  from  all  rates  and  taxes." 

The  adoption  of  the  single  tax  or  its  modification 
by  lowering  the  rate  on  improvements  and  increasing 
it  on  land  is  comparatively  easy  in  those  states  that 
separate  the  assessment  of  land  and  improvements 
as  is  done  in  Ohio,  New  York,  Massachusetts,  and 
elsewhere.  In  these  States  the  growth  in  land  values 
is  easily  ascertainable,  and  reports  show  that  the  in- 
crease in  cities  is  colossal.  New  York  and  Boston 
have  the  most  accurate  statistics  on  this  subject.  In 
the  former  city  the  assessed  valuation  of  improve- 
ments and  land  have  been  kept  separate  since  1903. 
They  are  published  in  the  annual  report  of  the  com- 
missioners of  taxes  and  assessments.  From  these 
reports  it  appears  that  land  values  alone  increased  by 
$786,004,307  in  four  years'  time,  between  1904  and 
1908,  or  at  the  rate  of  nearly  $200,000,000  a  year. 
Between  1908  and  1911,  the  increase  in  land  values 
was  $712,759,780,  or  $237,586,590  a  year.  The  spec- 
ulative increases  in  land  values  alone  during  these 
seven  years  was  in  excess  of  the  total  budget  of  the 
city,  which  amounts  to  approximately  $180,000,000 
a  year. 

The  city  of  Cleveland  made  a  re-appraisal  of  its 
property  for  the  purposes  of  taxation  in  1909.  It 
was  found  that  the  land  underlying  the  city  had  in- 
creased by  $177,000,000  in  ten  years'  time,  or  more 
than  twice  the  amount  collected  for  municipal  taxes 


206  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

during  these  years.  Wherever  investigations  have 
been  made  it  has  been  found  that  land  values  increase 
at  a  definite  ratio  to  population,  and  that  in  growing 
cities  the  growth  is  in  excess  of  the  annual  expendi- 
tures of  the  city.  This  increase  is  from  4  to  5  per 
cent,  per  annum,  which  is  the  normal  growth  in  New 
York.  Four  per  cent,  is  the  estimated  increase  in 
German  cities,  where  the  subject  has  been  more  ac- 
curately studied  than  it  has  been  with  us. 

And  if  we  study  population  in  relation  to  land 
values,  we  find  that  the  latter  amount  to  from  $600 
to  $1,000  per  capita,  depending  upon  local  conditions, 
or  to  from  $3,000  to  $5,000  per  family.  Land  values 
reflect  population.  They  reflect  industrial  prosper- 
ity, expenditures  for  improvements,  for  streets,  for 
sewers,  parks,  and  schools.  They  are  increased  by 
good  transit,  the  extension  of  water,  gas,  and  elec- 
tric lighting  faciHties.  Expenditures  for  these  pur- 
poses add  to  the  value  of  the  land  and  of  the  land 
alone.  They  do  not  increase  the  value  of  the  im- 
provements, whose  value  is  always  the  cost  of  repro- 
duction. This  is  why  land  values  are  social  values. 
They  are  not  traceable  to  the  industry  of  the  owner 
or  to  any  activity  on  his  part.  They  spring  from  the 
close  crowding  of  people,  from  the  demand  for  build- 
ing sites,  from  the  improvements  in  the  art  of  living, 
of  production,  of  transportation.  All  these  things 
contribute  to  the  value  of  the  land,  and  to  no  other 
form  of  wealth. 


NEW  SOURCES  OF  REVENUE  207 

Land  values  are  a  natural  source  of  taxation,  grow- 
ing with  the  growth  of  the  community,  and  respond- 
ing to  the  expenditures  and  improvements  made  by 
it.  Year  by  year  they  increase  with  the  coming  of 
people  and  the  advances  of  industry.  And  it  is  be- 
cause land  values  are  the  creation  of  the  community, 
that  they  should  be  taken  by  the  community  for 
community  purposes. 


CHAPTER  XII 
THE  BUDGET  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY 

Three  things  stand  out  prominently  in  the  budget 
of  the  German  city  and  distinguish  it  from  our  own. 
One  is  the  size  of  the  budget  and  the  generosity  with 
which  cities  spend  for  things  which  would  hardly  be 
expected  in  a  country  where  substantial  wealth  is  of 
very  recent  appearance  and  where  the  great  mass  of 
the  people  are  still  very  poor.  In  the  second  place, 
despite  the  fact  that  the  cities  are  governed  by  busi- 
ness men,  the  taxes  are  almost  all  assessed  against 
income,  property,  or  business.  Thirdly,  the  budget 
of  the  German  city  includes  many  business  under- 
takings that  in  this  and  other  countries  are  left  in 
private  hands.  The  extent  to  which  such  activities 
figure  is  shown  in  the  budget  of  Diisseldorf,  as  well 
as  in  the  budget  of  Mannheim  referred  to  later  in 
this  chapter.  Cities  generally  make  a  charge  for 
many  services  that  in  this  country  are  rendered  free. 
There  are  admission  fees  to  the  zoological  and  palm 
gardens,  to  the  museums,  baths,  and  concerts.  The 
German  city  tries  to  make  as  many  services  self- 
supporting  as  possible,  while  many  activities  realize 
an  increasing  profit  with  which  the  burdens  of  taxa- 
tion are  being  reduced. 

208 


THE  BUDGET  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY    209 

Wide  latitude  is  enjoyed  by  the  city  in  the  matter 
of  taxation  as  in  other  things.  There  are  no  inflex- 
ible limitations  on  the  tax  rate  or  the  indebtedness 
imposed  by  the  state  constitution  or  by  law.  The 
city  is  assumed  to  be  the  best  judge  of  these  matters, 
although  the  interior  department  maintains  a  watch- 
ful eye  to  see  that  well-recognized  standards  of  effi- 
ciency and  conduct  are  observed.  But  the  city  has 
considerable  latitude  to  place  its  taxes  where  it  wills, 
to  shift  them  from  incomes  to  real  estate,  to  tax 
business,  luxuries,  and  transfers  of  property  as  suits 
the  judgment  of  the  community.  The  laws  of  the 
several  states  also  differ  from  one  another,  although 
a  general  uniformity  prevails  throughout  the  empire. 

Real  estate  bears  a  very  much  lower  rate  than  in 
this  country.  Up  to  very  recently,  under  the  system 
of  assessment  which  prevailed,  it  bore  an  inconsid- 
erable burden.  Nor  is  the  general  property  tax 
found  in  any  state.  It  is  unknown  in  Europe.  No- 
where is  it  assumed  that  all  property  should  be 
taxed  at  the  same  rate  irrespective  of  its  character. 
Personal  property  is  not  taxed  at  all,  nor  are  stocks, 
bonds,  mortgages,  or  intangible  forms  of  wealth. 

From  one-fourth  to  one-half  of  the  tax  receipts 
come  from  the  income  tax,  which  is  the  central  feat- 
ure of  the  system  just  as  the  real-estate  tax  is  with 
us.  Real  estate  is  taxed  by  three  separate  taxes,  one 
levied  at  the  time  of  sale  at  a  certain  percentage  of 
the  selling  price;  another  tax  is  levied  on  the  capital 


210  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

or  rental  value  of  the  property,  while  a  third,  or  "un- 
earned increment,"  tax  is  collected  from  the  profits 
of  speculation  or  the  increasing  value  of  land. 
Taxes  on  business  yield  a  very  substantial  sum,  as  do 
licenses  on  the  sale  of  beers  and  wines.  Dogs  are 
taxed,  while  the  tickets  or  receipts  of  theatres,  con- 
certSj  and  places  of  amusement  yield  a  considerable 
sum.  The  latter  are  in  the  nature  of  luxury  taxes. 
The  income  tax  is  a  source  of  both  state  and  munic- 
ipal revenue.  It  is  assessed  against  all  incomes  and 
at  a  progressive  rate,  incomes  below  approximately 
$225  a  year  being  exempt.  The  municipal  tax  is  in 
the  nature  of  a  surtax  added  to  the  state  rate.  For 
instance,  if  a  city  contributes  $1,000,000  to  the  state 
from  the  income  tax,  and  requires  an  equal  sum  for 
municipal  purposes,  the  municipal  income-tax  rate 
is  said  to  be  100  per  cent.;  i.  e.,  100  per  cent,  of  the 
state  rate.  The  rate  ranges  from  100  to  200  per 
cent,  in  the  larger  towns.  In  some  very  poor  munic- 
ipalities, which  contain  but  few  rich  men,  the  mu- 
nicipal rate  may  run  as  high  as  500  per  cent.,  or 
a  total  of  from  12  to  15  per  cent,  on  very  large  in- 
comes for  both  state  and  local  purposes.  The  in- 
come tax  rate  in  Berlin  is  100  per  cent.,  in  Nurem- 
berg and  Diisseldorf  140  per  cent.,  and  in  Spandau 
250  per  cent.  The  state  income-tax  rate  is  moderate, 
beginning  with  2^  per  cent,  on  incomes  of  about 
$225  and  increasing  to  4  per  cent,  on  incomes  of 
$250,000.    This  would  make  the  average  rate  for 


THE  BUDGET  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY    211 

state  and  city  purposes  from  5  to  12  per  cent.,  de- 
pending on  the  size  of  the  income. 

Municipalities  are  permitted  to  levy  up  to  100 
per  cent,  without  notice  by  the  state  authorities,  but 
if  the  rate  exceeds  this  percentage,  the  central  gov- 
ernment reserves  the  right  to  participate  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  city. 

Berlin  collected  $8,227,148  from  the  income  tax 
in  1907. 

The  second  source  of  taxation  is  the  grundsteuer, 
or  real-estate  tax.  Real  estate  is  assessed  on  both 
its  capital  and  its  rental  value.  Prior  to  1893,  the 
rent  received  by  the  owner  was  the  basis  of  assess- 
ment rather  than  the  selling  value  of  the  property. 
If  land  was  used  for  agricultural  purposes,  when  it 
was  ripe  for  building,  it  was  assessed  on  the  rental 
secured  as  agricultural  land  rather  than  on  its  value 
for  building  purposes.  In  1893  the  interior  depart- 
ment issued  an  order  advising  cities  to  adopt  the 
capital  value  instead  of  the  rent  received  as  a  basis 
of  taxation,  the  value  being  ascertained  by  capital- 
izing the  rental  value  of  the  property.  The  order 
was  complied  with  by  a  great  number  of  local  authori- 
ties, and  the  taxes  on  real  property  were  largely  in- 
creased in  consequence. 

The  tax  on  real  estate  in  Berlin  amounted  to 
$5,523,000  in  1907,  or  about  4  per  cent,  of  the  sum 
realized  by  the  city  of  New  York  from  this  source. 

In  addition  to  the  tax  on  capital  value,  there  is  a 


212  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

transfer  tax  assessed  at  the  rate  of  1  per  cent,  of  the 
selUng  price  of  improved  property,  and  of  2  per  cent, 
of  the  seUing  price  of  unimproved  property.  This 
tax  is  levied  at  the  time  of  sale. 

A  third  source  of  taxation  is  the  gewerlesteuer ,  or 
tax  on  trade  and  industry.  It  is  assessed  upon  all 
persons  engaged  in  trade  or  commerce  according  to 
the  amount  of  capital  invested  and  the  net  profits 
made  the  preceding  year.  All  trades  are  taxable,  but 
small  concerns  are  usually  exempt.  Frankfort,  for 
instance,  exempts  all  industries  where  the  net  profits 
are  less  than  $375  a  year  or  where  the  capital  em- 
ployed is  under  $750.  This  tax  is  also  progressive. 
BerUn  collected  $2,449,119  from  this  source  in  1907. 
Almost  all  cities  collect  taxes  from  restaurants, 
hotels,  and  places  where  intoxicating  liquors  are  sold. 
The  license  tax,  however,  is  nominal  and  is  not  de- 
signed as  a  sumptuary  measure  as  in  this  country. 
The  Hcense  is  fixed  by  the  profits  of  the  business.  In 
Berlin  the  license  tax  on  the  sale  of  liquor  is  but 
$2.38  where  the  profits  are  but  $357,  from  which  the 
rate  progresses  slightly,  a  restaurant  that  earns  $11,- 
900  a  year  being  taxed  only  $23.80.  The  total  rev- 
enues from  liquor  licenses  in  1907,  in  Berlin,  a  city  of 
over  two  million  inhabitants,  was  but  $760,927,  or 
about  what  would  be  collected  in  a  town  of  60,000 
inhabitants  in  America  from  the  same  source. 

Department  stores  are  taxed  on  a  different  scale 
than  retail  shops.    There  is  a  tax  on  pedlers  and 


THE  BUDGET  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY    213 

transient  dealers.  Dogs  are  generally  taxed,  a  sub- 
stantial sum  being  realized  from  this  source.  In 
Frankfort  $4  is  paid  for  the  first  dog  owned  and  $6 
for  the  second. 

There  are  also  many  fees  in  the  nature  of  special 
assessments.  There  are  drain  dues  for  connecting  a 
house  with  the  sewers;  dues  for  the  removal  of  gar- 
bage and  refuse  at  a  certain  percentage  of  the  rent  of 
the  house,  as  well  as  special  charges  for  the  erection 
or  alteration  of  buildings.  The  unearned-increment 
tax  described  elsewhere  yields  an  increasing  percent- 
age of  the  municipal  revenues. 

Hamburg  is  a  free  and  sovereign  state  in  many  of 
its  functions.  It  is  a  city  of  936,000  people  and  its 
revenues  for  the  year  1908  were  as  follows: 

Real-estate  tax $4,417,008 

Income  tax 9,331,143 

Stamp  revenue 710,683 

Registration  fees 133,447 

Tonnage  dues 779,013 

Inheritance  tax 1,082,474 

Tax  on  sales  of  property 1,015,870 

Amusement  tax 18,874 

Dog  tax 74,190 

Contributions  for  fire  brigade 218,830 

Customs  (share  of  state  refunded  by  Imperial 

government) 1,619,629 

Share  in  federal  receipts  for  distilling  tax  and 

imperial  revenue  tax 700,391 

Total $20,101,572 

Earnings  of  business  undertakings  occupy  a  prom- 
inent place  in  the  city  budget.  The  receipts  from 
public-utility  corporations,  from  docks,  markets,  ab- 


214  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

attoirs,  forests,  etc.,  are  frequently  many  times  the 
amomit  collected  from  taxation.  The  1908  budget 
of  the  city  of  Mannheim,  with  a  population  of  192,- 
000,  shows  the  sum  of  $3,683,647  as  derived  from  its 
many  undertakings;  while  the  direct  taxes  on  in- 
comes, real  property,  industrial  capital,  and  business 
yielded  but  $1,553,440.  The  gross  earnings  of  the 
more  important  industrial  undertakings  for  the  year 
1908  were  as  follows: 

Street  railways $627,488 

Buildings 463,491 

Agricultural  land 18,207 

Markets 27,650 

Transportation  of  merchandise 128,392 

Management  of  lands 32,403 

Water-works 256,986 

Gas-works 711,291 

Electrical  works 409,122 

Abattoir 172,532 

Fountains,  etc 12,993 

Cemetery 37,502 

The  net  gain  from  the  street  railways  amounted  to 
$44,942,  from  the  water-works  $123,021,  from  the 
gas-plant  $165,641,  and  from  the  electrical  light  and 
power  $127,366.  These  undertakings  are  operated 
only  incidentally  for  profit,  the  motive  of  operation 
being  the  maximum  of  service  at  a  relatively  low 
charge.  Out  of  a  total  budget  of  $5,237,086,  all  but 
$1,553,440  consisted  of  earnings  of  business  under- 
takings and  special  fees  for  services  performed.  The 
tax  upon  incomes  yielded  $466,345,  or  about  one- 
third  of  the  total  taxes;  $475,976  was  collected  from 


THE  BUDGET  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY    215 

trade  and  business  taxes,  and  $500,400  from  the  sev- 
eral taxes  on  real  property. 

The  business  men  who  rule  the  German  cities  have 
assumed  the  bulk  of  the  burdens  themselves.  They 
have  taxed  incomes,  business,  land,  and  property, 
rather  than  tenants,  as  in  Great  Britain,  or  the  con- 
sumer through  the  octroi,  as  in  the  Latin  countries. 
Ahnost  all  of  the  local  taxes  are  collected  from  the 
well-to-do  classes  rather  than  from  the  poor. 

In  the  matter  of  local  taxation,  at  least,  the  Amer- 
ican city  is  far  in  advance  of  the  cities  of  Europe,  not 
excepting  those  of  Germany.  This  is  true  in  spite 
of  the  general  property  tax  and  the  faulty  assess- 
ments made  by  many  of  our  cities.  We  collect  our 
municipal  revenues  more  justly  than  do  other  coun- 
tries, because  the  bulk  of  them  come  from  real  es- 
tate and,  by  the  nature  of  the  case,  from  land.  In 
recent  years,  too,  great  advance  has  been  made  in 
the  art  of  assessing  property  for  taxation,  following 
the  example  of  New  York,  in  which  city  the  assess- 
ment of  real  estate  has  been  brought  to  a  more  nearly 
scientific  basis  than  in  any  city  in  the  world. 

Land  is  the  natural  source  of  local  revenues,  for 
land  values  are  so  obviously  a  social  rather  than  an 
individual  product  that  they  should  be  taken  for 
municipal  purposes.  They  are  social  in  character. 
And  undoubtedly  our  cities  will  collect  an  increas- 
ing share  of  their  local  revenues  from  land  values, 
as  is  evidenced  by  the  many  movements  for  the  re- 


216  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

duction  of  the  taxes  on  improvements,  as  well  as 
their  exemption  from  taxation  altogether.  In  re- 
spect to  the  collection,  if  not  the  disbm'sement,  of 
revenues,  the  American  city  leads  Europe,  as  is 
shown  by  the  tendency  in  Gennany  and  England 
to  increase  the  bm^dens  of  taxation  on  land  values. 
That  is  the  meaning  of  the  change  of  basis  of  assess- 
ment from  rental  value  to  capital  value  in  Germany; 
it  is  the  meaning  of  the  unearned-increment  tax, 
or  wertzuwachssteuer.  It  is  this  that  has  animated 
five  hundred  municipalities  and  local  communities 
in  England  to  demand  from  ParUament  the  right  to 
rate  land  values  and  tax  them  for  municipal  pur- 
poses. 

The  indebtedness  of  many  European  cities  is  much 
in  excess  of  the  indebtedness  of  cities  of  the  same 
size  in  America.  Thisisnot  viewed  with  concern;  it 
is  rather  a  sign  of  intelhgence  and  progressive  ad- 
ministration. For  in  Germany  and  England  the 
bulk  of  the  indebtedness  is  for  street  railways,  gas, 
electricity  undertakings,  for  docks,  harbors,  slaugh- 
ter-houses, and  markets,  which  not  only  carry  the 
interest  charges  but  frequently  yield  a  substantial 
income  as  well.  The  debt  of  Berlin  amounts  to 
$100,000,000,  yet  officials  say  that  the  sewage-dis- 
posal farms  have  so  increased  in  value  that  they 
could  be  sold  for  sufficient  to  retire  the  whole  munic- 
ipal debt.  In  addition  nearly  $65,000,000  of  the  total 
is  for  business  undertakings  which  carry  themselves. 


THE  BUDGET  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY    217 

The  average  indebtedness  of  thirteen  British  cities 
with  an  average  population  in  excess  of  200,000  is 
over  $100  per  capita.  In  Germany  the  average  is 
$85  per  capita.  Manchester  has  a  per  capita  debt  of 
$180  and  Frankfort  of  $140.  A  considerable  part 
of  the  Manchester  debt  was  incurred  in  the  building 
of  the  Manchester  Ship  Canal.  The  per  capita  debt 
of  Munich  is  $125;  of  Diisseldorf,  $130;  and  of  Char- 
lottenburg,  $120.  The  average  indebtedness  of  the 
American  city  is  much  less.  The  per  capita  debt  of 
Chicago  is  very  low.  It  is  but  $43.92.  That  of 
Cleveland  is  $69.29;  of  Detroit,  $30.31 ;  of  Washing- 
ton, $44.84;  of  Milwaukee,  $32.47;  of  Philadelphia, 
$65.09;  while  that  of  Greater  New  York  is  $207.16. 
The  debt  of  the  latter  city,  however,  includes  sub- 
ways, docks,  ferries,  water  supply,  and  other  invest- 
ments of  a  valuable  kind  that  support  themselves  in 
whole  or  in  part  out  of  earnings.  These  figures  indi- 
cate the  gross  debt.    The  net  debt  is  somewhat  less.^ 

As  indicating  the  extent  of  municipal  indebtedness 
in  Germany,  as  well  as  the  large  proportion  incurred 
for  productive  undertakings,  the  following  table  of 
seven  Prussian  cities  is  instructive.  The  figures  are 
for  1908,  and  the  productive  undertakings  include 
street  railways,  gas,  electric  light,  water,  harbors, 
baths,  etc.  The  "other  purposes"  are  schools, 
streets,  sewers,  and  all  non-productive  undertakings. 

•  Financial  statistica  of  cities.  Bureau  of  the  Census.  The  fig- 
urea  are  for  1909. 


218 


EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 


FOR  PRODUCTIVE 

OTHER 

TOWN 

POPULATION 

TOTAL    DEBT 

UNDERTAKINGS 

PURPOSES 

Berlin 

2,001,032 

$99,254,000 

$64,767,000 

$34,512,000 

Elberfeld... 

168,000 

13,595,000 

7,252,000 

6,392,600 

Halle 

176,798 

9,500,000 

2,877,000 

4,612,000 

Solingen . . . 

50,961 

3,285,000 

2,257,000 

1,029,000 

Magdeburg. 

247,358 

15,005,000 

7,775,000 

7,503,900 

Remscheid. 

69,700 

3,930,000 

2,790,000 

1,147,000 

DtiBseldorf . 

284,439 

28,585,000 

22,260,000 

6,327,000 

A  similar  table  of  the  indebtedness  of  seven  Amer- 
ican cities  shows  the  amount  as  well  as  the  distri- 
bution of  indebtedness  between  productive  and  un- 
productive agencies.^ 


POPULATION 

INDEBTEDNESS 

FOR    PRODUC- 

FOR  OTHER 

1910 

1909 

TIVE  PURPOSES 

PURPOSES 

Philadelphia. . 

1,526,383 

$99,355,026 

$30,776,642 

$68,578,384 

Cleveland .... 

538,374 

37,304,908 

5,613,684 

31,691,224 

Minneapolis. . 

294,330 

14,927,202 

1,933,424 

12,993,778 

Indianapolis. . 

228,690 

4,790,401 

22,000 

4,768,401 

Denver 

207,112 

5,814,419 

329,200 

5,485,219 

Omaha 

122,187 

8,598,997 

Grand  Rapids 

110,060 

3,184,612 

1,137,500 

2,047,112 

'  Financial  Statistics  of  Cities,  1909.    Bureau  of  the  Census. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
HOW  THE  GERMAN  CITY  IS  GOVERNED 

The  German  city  is  governed  by  experts  who  de- 
vote their  lives  to  this  calling.  Men  prepare  them- 
selves for  city  administration  as  they  do  for  law, 
medicine,  or  any  other  profession.  They  take  special 
courses  in  the  universities  or  technical  schools  in 
law,  finance,  engineering,  town  planning,  education, 
or  sanitation.  On  graduation  they  compete  for  a 
municipal  post  along  with  other  candidates.  Some- 
times they  enter  the  permanent  service  from  the  city 
council,  or  the  state  civil  administration,  or  the  pro- 
fession of  law.  They  rise  from  one  position  to  an- 
other or  pass  from  city  to  city,  much  as  a  clergyman 
or  professor  in  this  country  moves  from  place  to 
place.  In  time  they  hope  to  become  burgomaster, 
and  if  they  make  a  success  in  their  city,  their  rep- 
utation is  known  all  over  Germany.  This  is  true  of 
the  burgomaster,  of  members  of  the  magistrat,  or 
administrative  council,  and  of  the  important  per- 
manent officials  generally. 

In  this  respect  the  city  is  but  a  cross-section  of  the 
nation  at  large,  for  public  offices  are  almost  always 
held  by  men  who  have  prepared  themselves  for  the 

219 


220  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

particular  post  to  which  they  aspire.  This  is  as  true 
of  the  civil  service  as  it  is  of  the  army  and  navy. 
The  intense  competition  for  place  has  something  to 
do  with  thiS;  as  has  the  universal  education  of  the 
empire.  But  aside  from  these  influences,  the  tra- 
ditions of  Germany  treat  public  service  as  a  profes- 
sion open  only  to  those  who  are  fitted  for  the  par- 
ticular work  to  be  done. 

The  framework  of  municipal  administration  in 
Germany  is  essentially  different  from  that  of  Amer- 
ica or  Great  Britain.  In  America  authority  has 
been  gradually  concentrated  in  the  mayor,  as  an 
easy  means  of  escape  from  the  evils  of  the  council 
system.  Through  this  de\ace,  as  well  as  through 
the  commission  form  of  government,  we  have  found 
a  means  by  which  we  can  hold  some  one  responsible, 
and  through  responsibility  substantial  improvement 
has  been  secured.  This  and  simplicity  are  the  great 
gains  from  the  federal  plan  and  the  commission  form 
of  government  adopted  by  our  cities  so  generally  in 
recent  years.  In  Great  Britain,  on  the  other  hand, 
all  the  powers  of  the  city  are  lodged  in  the  council, 
which  is  a  large  body  acting  through  committees. 
The  mayor  is  an  unsalaried  figure-head,  with  but 
little  power  and  that  of  a  titular  character.  The 
British  and  American  cities  are  antipodal  in  these 
respects. 

The  German  city  is  governed  by  a  composite  sys- 
tem in  which  the  burgomaster  is  the  central  figure, 


HOW  THE  GERMAN  CITY  IS  GOVERNED    221 

although  he  is  not  the  repository  of  as  great  legal 
power  as  are  mayors  in  America.  Associated  with 
him  are  a  large  nmnber  of  expert  advisers,  who  form 
the  magistrat.  Approximately  one-half  of  these  are 
paid,  and  make  a  profession  of  their  calling.  The 
city  comicil,  or  gemeinderat,  is  a  large  body,  elected 
in  Prussia  under  a  restricted  property  qualification, 
and  is  generally  made  up  of  men  of  only  less  distinc- 
tion than  the  magistrat  itself.  The  German  city  is 
the  most  generously  endowed  political  agency  in  the 
world  so  far  as  talent  and  training  are  concerned. 
Municipal  administration  is  the  work  of  the  expert 
rather  than  of  the  politician. 

In  Prussia  the  burgomaster  is  chosen  for  a  term 
of  twelve  years;  in  other  states  for  nine  or  six  years. 
In  Leipsic,  Dresden,  Hanover,  and  some  other  places, 
the  burgomaster  is  chosen  for  life  in  the  first  instance. 

When  a  vacancy  occurs  in  any  city,  the  council 
examines  the  qualifications  of  candidates  who  are 
suggested  or  who  offer  themselves  for  the  position. 
The  available  persons  are  finally  reduced  to  two  or 
three,  from  whom  the  choice  is  finally  made.  The 
same  procedure  is  followed  in  the  selection  of  mem- 
bers for  the  magistrat.  Elections  are  made  without 
regard  to  residence,  and  candidates  for  important 
positions  present  themselves  from  all  over  Germany. 
At  the  end  of  the  term  the  council  may  refuse  to 
re-elect  an  incumbent,  but  inasmuch  as  burgomasters 
are  entitled  to  a  pension  if  not  re-elected,  the  choice 


222  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

in  the  first  instance  is  made  with  great  care  and  is 
expected  to  be  permanent.  Burgomasters  are  elected 
by  the  council  rather  than  by  the  people  directly. 
So  are  all  other  higher  administrative  officials. 

There  are  many  burgomasters  who  have  served 
from  ten  to  twenty  years  in  their  respective  cities. 
The  burgomaster  of  Halle  has  been  chief  magistrate 
of  that  city  since  1882.  Dr.  Martin  Kirschner,  until 
recently  the  chief  burgomaster  of  Berlin,  was  first  a 
judge,  but  in  1873  he  entered  municipal  life  as  a 
town  councillor  in  Breslau.  Later  he  became  the 
city's  legal  adviser,  and  in  1893  was  called  from  Bres- 
lau to  become  one  of  the  burgomasters  of  Berlin. 
Six  years  later  he  was  elected  chief  burgomaster, 
which  office  he  held  until  shortly  before  his  death. 
Dr.  George  I.  Bender,  chief  burgomaster  of  Breslau, 
entered  municipal  service  through  the  law,  much  as 
did  Doctor  Kirschner.  He  became  a  magistrate  in 
the  city  of  Thorn,  and  in  1888  was  elected  burgo- 
master of  that  city.  In  1891  he  was  chosen  as  chief 
burgomaster  of  Breslau  and  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  Prussian  House  of  Lords. 

Doctor  Adickes,  the  present  burgomaster  of  Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main,  began  his  municipal  career  at  the 
end  of  the  Franco-Prussian  War  as  burgomaster  of 
Dortmund,  where  he  served  for  four  years.  In  1877 
he  was  chosen  burgomaster  of  Altona,  and  in  1883 
became  its  chief  burgomaster.  In  1891  the  city  of 
Frankfort-on-the-Main  called  him  to  be  burgomaster, 


HOW  THE  GERMAN  CITY  IS  GOVERNED    223 

which  oflSce  he  has  held  ever  since.  In  addition  to 
his  municipal  office,  he  is  a  member  of  the  Prussian 
House  of  Lords.  He  has  received  many  orders,  in- 
cluding that  of  the  Imperial  Red  Eagle. 

Frankfort  is  a  very  wealthy  city ;  it  is  rich  in  tradi- 
tions, in  old  monuments,  and  Doctor  Adickes  awa- 
kened the  ambitions  of  the  citizens  and  proceeded  to 
build  a  new  city  of  splendid  proportions  about  the 
old  mediaeval  town,  which  for  centuries  was  one  of 
the  free  cities  of  the  Hanseatic  League.  He  used 
the  city  as  a  laboratory  for  experiments  in  taxation, 
in  town-planning,  in  industrial,  housing,  and  harbor 
developments.  New  municipal  ideas  have  issued 
from  Frankfort  much  as  new  discoveries  in  science 
issue  from  the  university  laboratory.  When  Doctor 
Adickes  became  burgomaster,  in  1891,  the  population 
of  the  city  was  but  180,000.  To-day  it  is  414,000. 
Much  of  the  growth  is  due  to  the  big-visioned  ad- 
ministration of  its  burgomaster. 

Diisseldorf  is  another  example  of  the  influence  of 
the  expert  professional  mayor.  In  1898,  when  Diis- 
seldorf was  a  town  of  less  than  200,000  population, 
Dr.  Wilhelm  Marx  was  called  to  be  its  burgomas- 
ter. The  city  was  not  unlike  a  score  of  American 
cities  fifteen  years  ago.  It  might  have  been  as  un- 
interesting and  disorderly  as  any  of  our  own. 
But  Doctor  Marx  appreciated  that  his  city  could 
only  successfully  compete  with  its  neighbors  by  hav- 
ing greater  advantages  than  they.     So  he  proceeded 


224  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

to  build  a  city  that  would  attract  business  and  people. 
Under  his  administration  the  municipal  debt  was  in- 
creased to  $100  per  capita  for  the  acquisition  of  the 
street  railways,  electric-lighting  and  other  plants. 
The  city  engaged  in  the  purchase  of  land;  it  became 
a  land  speculator  on  a  large  scale;  it  invested  in  the 
shares  of  Diisseldorf  industries  and  entered  on  the 
greatest  variety  of  industrial  activities.  A  great 
harbor  was  constructed,  suburbs  were  laid  out,  edu- 
cation was  perfected,  and  the  city  made  alluring  to 
business  and  residents.  In  a  dozen  years  Diissel- 
dorf acquired  the  name  of  the  garden-city  of  Ger- 
many. It  now  has  356,000  people.  The  German 
steel  trust  has  made  it  its  home,  while  many  other 
industries  came  to  it  because  of  its  advantages. 
Diisseldorf  is  a  centre  of  art,  music,  and  education; 
it  is  one  of  the  show  cities  of  Germany  to  which 
travellers  come  from  all  over  Europe  and  America. 
What  Diisseldorf  has  done,  Detroit,  Cleveland,  In- 
dianapolis, Denver,  San  Francisco,  Los  Angeles,  al- 
most any  one  of  fifty  American  cities,  could  do  were 
they  but  inspired  by  a  vision  of  their  possibilities 
and  were  our  political  institutions  adjusted  to  the 
employment  of  permanent  experts  in  city  adminis- 
tration. 

Having  achieved  these  things.  Doctor  Marx  re- 
tired from  the  mayoralty  at  the  end  of  twelve  years 
of  service,  and  Doctor  Oehler,  of  the  near-by  city  of 
Crefeld,  was  chosen  by  the  council  to  continue  the 


HOW  THE  GERMAN  CITY  IS  GOVERNED    225 

programme  of  city-building  on  which  the  city  had 
entered. 

There  is  keen  rivalry  among  German  cities.  The 
struggle  is  for  bank  clearings,  factories,  and  business 
growth,  just  as  it  is  with  us;  only  these  ends  are 
attained  by  different  means.  Cities  vie  with  each 
other  in  the  promotion  of  the  arts,  beauty,  and  com- 
fort. They  develop  opportunities  for  factories,  per- 
fect their  educational  systems,  and  improve  their 
facilities  for  water  and  rail  transportation.  The 
professional  burgomaster  has  much  to  do  with  this. 
He  wants  to  make  a  showing,  to  achieve  a  reputa- 
tion which  will  lead  to  his  being  called  to  some  other 
city. 

The  German  burgomaster  corresponds  roughly  to 
the  American  mayor,  although  his  legal  powers  are 
not  nearly  as  ample  as  those  of  the  American  city 
operating  under  the  federal  plan.  In  practice  his  in- 
fluence is  likely  to  be  as  great  as  his  abilities.  If  he 
is  a  man  of  force  and  originality  he  becomes  the  di- 
recting spirit  in  the  administration.  He  presides  over 
the  magistrat,  promotes  city  policies,  oversees  other 
departments,  and  is  the  official  representative  of  the 
municipality  on  all  state  occasions.  He  may  sus- 
pend and  punish  officials  who  have  been  remiss  in 
their  duties,  but  his  power  to  discharge  is  subject  to 
review  by  the  administrative  courts,  to  which  an 
appeal  may  be  taken  by  the  discharged  official.  He 
is  also  directly  responsible  for  the  police  administra- 


226  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

tion,  over  which  the  state  maintains  a  watchful  super- 
vision. In  the  larger  Prussian  cities,  however,  the 
state  may  appoint  a  police  commissioner  responsible 
to  it  directly. 

The  burgomaster  has  no  veto  over  ordinances  and 
may  be  overruled  by  the  magistrat.  He  neither  pre- 
pares the  budget  nor  introduces  it.  That  is  done 
by  his  associates.  Nor  has  he  the  large  appointing 
power  lodged  with  mayors  in  this  country.  In  a 
legal  sense  he  is  but  the  first  among  equals. 

Some  cities  have  two  burgomasters,  in  which  case 
the  senior  one  is  called  the  chief  burgomaster.  In 
some  of  the  larger  cities  he  is  known  as  the  ober- 
burgomaster,  but  this  title  is  only  permissible  when 
authorized  by  law. 

In  a  sense  the  King  is  the  fountain-head  of  mu- 
nicipal administration,  for  while  the  council  selects 
the  burgomaster,  its  choice  must  be  ratified  by  the 
King  acting  through  the  interior  department.  Such 
approval  is  usually  given  as  a  matter  of  course. 
Some  years  ago,  however,  when  the  council  of  Ber- 
lin selected  a  burgomaster  who  was  persona  non 
grata  to  the  King,  the  action  of  the  council  was 
disapproved.  The  council  reaffirmed  its  selection, 
but  the  King  refused  to  rescind  his  veto.  For  some 
time  the  city  was  without  a  burgomaster,  but  finally 
the  council  receded  from  its  position  and  selected 
a  candidate  who  received  the  royal  approval.  Sim- 
ilar conflicts  have  occurred  in  some  of  the  smaller 


HOW  THE  GERMAN  CITY  IS  GOVERNED    227 

cities  where  the  radicals  have  selected  candidates 
representative  of  their  opinions.  It  is  not  improb- 
able that  the  royal  veto  will  be  called  into  play  more 
frequently  in  the  future,  especially  in  those  states 
where  the  Prussian  three-class  system  of  voting  does 
not  prevail,  while  if  manhood  suffrage  is  introduced 
into  Prussia  the  same  conflict  is  likely  to  arise  in 
that  state  as  well.  In  Bavaria,  where  the  Prussian 
system  of  voting  does  not  prevail,  members  of  the 
SociaHst  party  are  already  found  in  the  magistrat, 
and  many  of  the  cities  are  likely  to  fall  into  the 
hands  of  this  party.  This  will  probably  not  involve 
any  change  in  the  character  or  integrity  of  the  men 
or  the  efficiency  of  administration,  for  many  of  the 
leading  municipal  experts  in  Germany  are  Socialists, 
actively  connected  with  the  party,  but  identified 
with  the  municipal  movement. 

The  salaries  paid  the  burgomasters  are  higher  than 
the  salaries  of  mayors  in  this  country,  even  aside 
from  the  greater  purchasing  power  of  money.  Ber- 
lin and  Frankfort-on-the-Main  pay  their  oberburgo- 
masters  $9,000  a  year,  while  Leipsic,  Cologne,  and 
Magdeburg  pay  $6,250  a  year.  Dresden  and  Mu- 
nich pay  $5,000,  and  Hanover  $4,250.  In  the  smaller 
municipalities  salaries  are  correspondingly  lower.  In 
addition  the  burgomaster  receives  a  number  of  sub- 
stantial perquisites  which  may  amount  to  several 
thousand  dollars  a  year  more.  He  is  entitled  to  a 
pension  of  from  one-half  to  three-fourths  of  his  sal- 


228  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

aiy  on  retirement  from  office,  depending  upon  the 
length  of  his  service. 

To  be  burgomaster  of  a  German  city  is  one  of  the 
most  alluring  of  professions.  Not  only  is  the  office 
highly  paid,  but  the  city  is  the  largest  single  corpora- 
tion in  the  community.  It  conducts  a  multitude  of 
undertakings  and  has  a  large  budget  to  control.  In 
salary,  in  social  position,  in  power  and  opportunity, 
as  well  as  in  permanency  of  tenure,  Germany  has 
provided  a  system  that  attracts  men  of  talent  and 
ability  to  city  administration. 

Associated  with  the  burgomaster  are  a  number  of 
assistants,  who  form  the  magistrat,  or  stadtrat. 
Their  duties  are  primarily  administrative,  although 
they  both  initiate  and  influence  legislation.  They 
form  the  executive  branch  of  city  government  and 
constitute  an  upper  chamber,  which  meets  apart  from 
the  coimcil  but  is  fused  with  the  elective  body  in 
actual  practice.  For  there  is  no  superstition  in 
Germany  about  the  necessity  of  separating  powers 
and  responsibilities  between  legislative  and  execu- 
tive branches.  There  are  no  checks  and  balances 
in  city  administration.  These  are  poHtical  fictions 
which  have  never  had  any  place  outside  of  America. 
The  aim  is  rather  to  merge  administration  and  legis- 
lation as  closely  as  possible  in  the  interests  of  effi- 
ciency. 

The  magistrat  is  a  body  of  experts,  who,  like  the 
mayor,  make  a  profession  of  city  administration. 


HOW  THE  GERMAN  CITY  IS  GOVERNED    229 

The  members  are  chosen  from  men  who  have  achieved 
distinction  in  the  comicil,  in  the  state  civil  service,  or 
who  enter  it  after  special  training  for  some  depart- 
ment. Each  member  is  an  expert  in  his  line  of  ser- 
vice, and  is  chosen  for  some  definite  position.  This, 
at  least,  is  true  for  the  salaried  members.  There  are 
experts  in  law,  in  finance,  accounting,  education,  en- 
gineering, charity,  housing,  and  town  planning.  With 
the  burgomaster,  who  is  an  expert  in  chief,  they  form 
an  executive  council,  each  member  of  which  is  trained 
in  his  department  and  thoroughly  familiar  with  what 
is  being  done  in  other  cities  of  the  country. 

A  great  business  corporation  is  not  more  efficiently 
organized  than  is  the  German  city,  and  few  business 
corporations,  whether  in  this  country  or  abroad,  are 
as  wisely  and  economically  managed.  There  is  no 
waste,  no  need  of  efficiency  surveys  by  private  agen- 
cies. The  city  itself  is  equipped  with  men  whose  life 
is  dedicated  to  their  work,  and  whose  hopes,  am- 
bitions, and  social  standing  are  satisfied  with  the 
opportunities  which  city  administration  offers. 

The  magistrat  contains  from  one-fourth  to  one- 
third  as  many  members  as  does  the  council,  by 
which  it  is  chosen.  Approximately  one-half  of  the 
members  are  salaried,  the  other  half  are  not.  The 
number  of  paid  members  is  determined  by  the  coun- 
cil itself,  and  usually  depends  upon  the  size  of  the 
city  and  the  activities  in  which  it  is  engaged.  Ber- 
lin, with  a  population  of  2,099,000,  has  17  paid  and 


230  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

as  many  more  unpaid  members  of  this  body.  Mag- 
deburg, with  a  population  of  240,633,  has  12  paid 
and  15  unpaid  officials,  while  Breslau,  with  a  popu- 
lation of  510,939,  has  14  paid  and  15  unpaid  officials. 
There  are  14  paid  and  18  unpaid  members  of  the 
magistrat  in  Dresden,  12  paid  and  15  unpaid  in 
Leipsic,  16  paid  and  20  unpaid  in  Munich,  and  9 
paid  and  8  unpaid  in  Frankfort-on-the-Main.  Like 
the  burgomaster,  the  names  of  the  paid  members  of 
the  magistrat  must  be  submitted  to  the  central  au- 
thorities for  approval. 

The  number  of  unpaid  members  is  fixed  by  law 
and  depends  upon  the  size  of  the  city.  Municipali- 
ties with  from  10,000  to  30,000  people  have  6  unpaid 
members;  those  with  from  60,000  to  100,000  have 
10  unpaid  magistrates,  with  2  additional  ones  for 
every  50,000  people.  The  unsalaried  members  are 
usually  chosen  from  the  council,  much  as  are  the 
aldermen  in  Great  Britain,  although  they  may  be 
chosen  from  outside  its  membership.  The  unpaid 
members  are  almost  all  men  of  comparative  leisure, 
and  are  held  in  high  esteem  in  the  community.  Their 
places  are  practically  permanent.  The  paid  and  un- 
paid members  sit  together  in  the  same  body  much 
as  do  the  aldermen  and  councillors  in  Great  Britain. 

It  is  amazing  how  generously  the  German  city 
makes  provision  for  administrative  officials.  While 
New  York  has  a  board  of  estimate  and  apportion- 
ment of  but  eight  members,  and  while  most  of  our 


HOW  THE  GERMAN  CITY  IS  GOVERNED    231 

large  cities  have  from  four  to  six  salaried  heads  of 
departments,  the  German  city  of  equal  size  has  from 
two  to  three  times  as  many  salaried  members  in  its 
magistrat.  In  addition  there  are  as  many  more 
non-salaried  ones.  Many  of  our  cities  are  under- 
manned; they  are  unable  to  handle  the  many  big 
problems  which  confront  them,  not  only  because  of 
the  lack  of  experience  of  officials,  but  because  of  the 
inadequate  number  provided  for. 

The  salaried  members  are  usually  chosen  for  the 
same  term  as  the  burgomaster,  but  the  unsalaried 
ones  are  selected  for  six  years,  the  same  as  members 
of  the  council.  The  former  are  chosen  by  competi- 
tion, and  re-election  generally  follows  as  a  matter  of 
course.  They  give  their  entire  time  to  city  adminis- 
tration and  receive  salaries  which  are  relatively  high. 
In  Berlin,  for  instance,  salaries  range  from  $2,500  to 
$3,000  a  year,  while  in  the  other  large  cities  they  run 
from  $1,200  to  $3,000.  There  are  other  perquisites 
attached  to  the  office,  as  well  as  a  pension  on  retire- 
ment, and  a  high  social  position  in  the  community. 
The  unpaid  members  are  chosen  because  of  known 
abihty  demonstrated  in  the  city  council,  in  pubhc 
service,  or  in  private  pursuits. 

Each  of  the  salaried  members  is  assigned  a  par- 
ticular department  which  he  supervises.  The  de- 
partments correspond  roughly  with  our  own.  One 
member,  the  Kammerer,  occupies  the  post  of  city 
chamberlain  or  auditor.    Another,  the  Syndikus,  is 


232  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

at  the  head  of  the  legal  department.  A  third,  the 
Schulrat,  has  control  of  education.  A  fourth,  the 
Baurat,  has  charge  of  the  public  works.  Other  spe- 
cialists are  assigned  to  charity  administration,  hos- 
pitals, and  institutions  for  the  relief  of  the  poor, 
while  still  others  have  charge  of  the  street  railways, 
gas,  electric  lighting,  and  other  profit-making  utilities. 
AVhen  a  vacancy  occurs  in  a  given  post  the  council 
frequently  advertises  the  fact,  and  invites  competi- 
tion to  fill  it.  It  is  not  unconmion  to  see  advertise- 
ments in  a  German  newspaper  like  the  following 
taken  from  the  Gemeinde  Zeitung  of  July  28,  1906. 

"NOTICE 

"The  post  of  Syndikus  in  the  Magistrat  of  this 
city  has  become  vacant.  The  stipend  is  6,000  marks 
per  year  with  an  increase  of  600  marks  every  three 
years  until  the  maximum  of  9,000  marks  is  reached. 
The  appointment  is  for  life;  and  provision  is  made 
for  a  pension  on  retirement  after  long  service,  as  well 
as  for  the  granting  of  an  annuity  to  the  widow  or 
orphans  of  a  deceased  incumbent  of  the  post.  The 
Syndikus  is  expected  to  preside  in  the  Industrial  and 
Mercantile  Court  (Gewerbe  und  Kaufmannsgericht), 
and  is  intrusted  with  a  general  supervision  over  the 
legal  affairs  of  the  city.  Candidates  who  have  passed 
their  second  legal  examination  and  who  have  had  suc- 
cessful administrative  experience  are  requested  to 
submit  applications  accompanied  by  testimonials  and 
other  suitable  documents  to  the  city  clerk  before 
August  20. 
"  Frankfort-on-the-Main, 

''July  17,  1906.  The  Magistrat." 


HOW  THE  GERMAN  CITY  IS  GOVERNED    233 

Candidates  send  in  their  names  and  references, 
from  which  the  council  selects  the  candidate  best 
qualified  for  the  post,  which  selection  is  then  reported 
to  the  central  authorities  for  approval.  Unsalaried 
members  of  the  magistrat  frequently  aspire  to  be- 
come salaried  oflficials,  while  persons  in  private  em- 
ployment or  those  occupying  a  post  in  some  other 
city  also  respond  to  the  inquiry.  Every  consideration 
is  ignored  save  the  qualifications  of  the  candidate  for 
the  place.  Neither  politics,  friendship,  nor  personal 
consideration  have  weight  in  the  selection,  although 
Socialists  would  probably  not  be  accepted  in  Prussia. 
They  are,  however,  frequently  found  on  the  magis- 
trat of  the  Bavarian  cities,  where  the  Prussian  limi- 
tations on  the  suffrage  do  not  prevail. 

The  unpaid  members  of  the  magistrat  are  advisers 
in  general  on  municipal  problems.  They  are  not 
chosen  for  special  posts,  as  are  the  paid  members,  or 
because  of  any  especial  training  in  particular  branches 
of  administration.  There  are  no  qualifications  pre- 
scribed by  law  for  their  selection  save  that  they  must 
be  residents  of  the  city.  The  council,  however,  usu- 
ally chooses  them  from  out  its  own  members  or  from 
successful  business  and  professional  men  with  recog- 
nized aptitude  for  the  work.  The  standard  of  quali- 
fication is  very  high,  and  service  upon  the  magistrat 
involves  heavy  inroads  upon  a  man's  time.  In  spite 
of  this  fact,  cities  fill  these  positions  with  men  of 
high  character  and  attainments.    For  official  life  has 


234  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

a  lure  in  Gennany  of  which  we  have  no  conception. 
Caste  runs  throughout  the  nation  and  affects  the 
ambitions  of  all.  At  the  top  is  the  junker,  or  large 
landed  estate  owner.  Below  him  is  the  mihtary 
caste,  whose  ojficers  are  almost  exclusively  recruited 
from  the  landed  classes.  To  the  professional  men 
and  merchants  municipal  office  is  almost  the  only 
avenue  of  official  distinction.  Wealth  as  such  car- 
ries little  standing,  much  less  than  in  America  or  in 
England.  Everywhere  the  official  class  is  the  ruling 
class,  and  every  title  of  distinction,  no  matter  how 
insignificant,  is  jealously  guarded  by  its  possessor, 
whose  rank  and  position  are  scrupulously  observed  in 
official  and  social  relations. 

One  explanation  of  the  size  and  importance  of  the 
magistrat  is  the  fact  that  the  city  is  the  agent  of 
the  state  in  the  administration  of  many  laws  relat- 
ing to  education,  sanitation,  insurance,  and  the  ad- 
ministration of  industrial  functions.  The  munici- 
paUty  has  jurisdiction  over  the  property  of  the  state 
church.  It  appoints  the  clergymen  and  church 
officials.  In  this  it  differs  radically  from  the  Amer- 
ican city,  which  rarely  performs  any  state  func- 
tions. 

Members  of  the  magistrat  initiate  much  of  the 
legislation  which  comes  before  the  council.  They 
do  this  sometimes  at  the  request  of  members  of  the 
council,  but  more  frequently  on  their  own  initiative. 
Ordinances  adopted  by  the  council  must  have  the 


HOW  THE  GERMAN  CITY  IS  GOVERNED    235 

approval  of  the  magistral,  much  as  legislation  in 
Congress  must  be  passed  by  both  houses.  The  coun- 
cil is  the  agency  of  the  pubUc  intrusted  with  the 
promotion  of  policies,  while  the  magistral  is  the  ad- 
ministrative department,  serving  both  the  state  and 
the  municipality,  and  promoting  in  every  possible 
way  the  advancement  of  the  community.  Rarely  is 
there  any  conflict  between  the  council  and  the  magis- 
tral, for  spoils,  opportunities  for  political  preferment, 
and  the  privileged  interests  have  little  influence  in 
city  politics,  while  anything  which  savors  of  dishon- 
esty is  practically  unknown. 

The  magistral  is  free  from  supervision  by  the 
council  in  executive  matters,  except  where  the  ex- 
penditure of  money  is  involved.  It  has  control  of 
the  public  utility  enterprises  of  the  city.  It  builds 
and  cleans  the  streets,  controls  the  schools,  parks, 
and  housing.  It  is  the  educational  agency  of  the  city, 
for  education  is  merged  with  city  administration  in 
Germany  as  it  is  in  England,  rather  than  being  a 
detached,  separate  activity.  In  all  of  these  depart- 
ments the  magistral  acts  with  wide  freedom,  for  not 
only  is  the  city  free  to  do  as  it  wiUs,  but  the  magis- 
tral is  rarely  interfered  with,  either  by  the  state  au- 
thorities or  the  town  council. 

No  moneys  can  be  paid  out  of  the  treasury  with- 
out its  approval.  It  controls  the  coUection  and  dis- 
bursement of  revenues.  It  has  no  power  to  levy  any 
taxes  or  to  make  general  appropriations,  but  aside 


236  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

from  this  it  administers  the  budget  of  the  city. 
Members  of  the  magistrat  rather  than  the  burgo- 
master make  appointments  for  office,  but  these  ap- 
pointments must  be  confirmed  by  the  council.  The 
magistrat  meets  as  a  separate  body,  and  is  presided 
over  by  the  burgomaster.  Its  meetings  are  not  held 
in  public.  No  announcement  is  made  of  a  vote  or 
division  on  a  question,  so  that  whatever  action  the 
magistrat  takes  has  the  appearance  of  unanimity. 

In  practice  the  magistrat  combines  many  of  the 
powers  which  we  intrust  to  the  council,  mayor,  and 
heads  of  the  various  departments.  Long  tenure  of 
office,  recognized  efficiency,  and  the  absence  of  polit- 
ical controversies  and  spoils  make  jurisdictional  quar- 
rels with  the  council  infrequent,  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  the  magistrat  is  selected  by  the  latter  body. 
Made  up  of  men  with  the  greatest  variety  of  training, 
and  aided  by  the  interior  department  of  the  state, 
with  its  accumulated  experience  and  statistical  in- 
formation, it  forms  probably  the  most  efficient  ad- 
ministrative agency  in  the  world. 

It  need  hardly  be  said  that  there  is  no  spoils  sys- 
tem in  Germany.  Nor  is  there  any  rotation  in  office, 
either  among  the  elective  or  the  appointed  employ- 
ees. Even  among  unskilled  workmen  tenure  is  dur- 
ing good  behavior.  This  is  part  of  the  traditions  of 
Germany,  in  which  country  men  in  all  walks  of  fife 
choose  their  callings  early  and  thus  establish  their 
status.    And  municipal  service,  from  the  most  sub- 


HOW  THE  GERMAN  CITY  IS  GOVERNED    237 

ordinate  position  to  the  highest,  is  a  recognized  ca- 
reer the  same  as  any  of  the  professions. 

While  the  burgomaster  and  the  magistrat  form  the 
central  feature  of  administration,  the  city  council  or 
stadtverordnete  or  gemeinderat  is  the  final  source  of 
power.  It  is  a  representative  body  elected  by  wards 
or  districts  the  same  as  in  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain.  Councilmen  are  elected  for  six  years, 
and  one-third  of  the  membership  retires  every  two 
years.  None  of  the  councilmen  are  elected  at  large. 
In  Berlin,  under  the  Prussian  system  of  three-class 
voting,  there  are  16  districts  assigned  to  voters  of 
the  first  class,  16  to  voters  of  the  second,  and  48  to 
voters  of  the  third  class.  The  first  and  second  class 
districts  elect  a  councillor  every  two  years,  while  each 
of  the  48  districts  in  the  third  class  elects  a  councillor 
eveiy  six  years.  In  Bavaria,  councilmen  are  elected 
for  nine  years,  one-third  of  the  body  retiring  every 
three  years,  while  in  Saxony  the  three-year  term 
prevails. 

Many  electoral  provisions  militate  against  the  free 
expression  of  the  popular  will.  There  are  no  nomi- 
nations of  candidates  by  primaries,  caucuses,  or  con- 
ventions. Any  qualified  person  can  be  voted  for, 
but  in  practice  candidates  are  selected  beforehand, 
and  are  well  known  as  such.  Prior  to  the  election 
there  are  canvassing  and  meetings  in  the  support 
of  candidates,  but  so  far  as  the  action  of  the  voter 
is  concerned  he  is  left  entirely  unaided  by  parties  or 


238  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

by  ballots  in  the  making  of  his  choice,  for  there  are 
no  printed  ballots.  Candidates  must  receive  a  clear 
majority  of  the  votes  cast,  and  if  this  is  not  secured 
at  the  first  election,  a  second  is  held.  Only  the  two 
candidates  who  have  received  the  largest  number  of 
votes  are  eligible  at  the  second  election. 

The  councU  is  a  relatively  large  body.  In  Berlin 
it  numbers  144  members;  in  Karlsruhe  and  Mann- 
heim, 96;  in  Dresden,  78;  in  Leipsic,  72;  and  in 
Munich,  60.  The  size  of  the  council  is  fixed  by  law 
according  to  population.  In  Prussia  there  is  a  mini- 
mum of  twelve  councilmen  in  the  smaller  municipali- 
ties. The  council  is  a  much  larger  body  than  it  is  in 
America,  but  is  about  the  same  size  as  in  England. 
All  over  Europe  the  large  council  prevails,  and  every- 
where the  organization  is  substantially  the  same. 
There  is  no  parallel  to  the  commission  form  of 
government  which  is  rapidly  being  adopted  in  the 
American  West  or  to  the  federal  plan,  such  as 
has  been  generally  adopted  by  our  larger  Eastern 
cities. 

A  high  order  of  ability  is  found  in  the  council,  for 
the  talent  of  the  commimity  seems  to  be  at  the  ser- 
vice of  the  city,  and  business  and  professional  men 
deem  it  a  high  honor  to  be  elected  to  that  body.  In 
university  cities,  members  of  the  faculty  are  fre- 
quently chosen.  Members  of  the  council  receive  no 
salary,  and  there  is  no  chance  for  pecuniary  emolu- 
ment of  any  kind.    Service  is  obligatory,  for  a  man 


HOW  THE  GERMAN  CITY  IS  GOVERNED    239 

can  be  fined  if  he  refuses  to  accept  an  election — a 
contingency,  however,  that  rarely,  if  ever,  happens. 
The  work  of  a  councillor  is  very  exacting.  He  has 
to  devote  a  considerable  part  of  his  time  to  city  busi- 
ness. The  council  usually  meets  once  a  week  excq)t 
during  the  summer  months.  Discussion  is  spirited, 
and  where  Socialists  have  found  a  place  in  the  coun- 
cil, it  covers  the  whole  range  of  municipal  policy. 
The  burgomaster  and  members  of  the  magistrat  have 
a  seat  in  the  council  chamber  with  the  right  to  speak 
on  all  questions  but  not  to  vote.  They  may  be  in- 
terrogated by  members  on  public  questions.  Much 
of  the  work  of  the  council  is  prepared  for  it  by  mem- 
bers of  the  magistrat.  The  procedure  differs  from 
that  of  the  British  council,  where  each  committee 
controls  its  own  department,  selects  its  managers 
and  subordinates,  and  combines  legislative  and  ad- 
ministrative work  in  the  same  body.  In  this  respect 
the  German  council  is  more  like  the  American  one. 
With  us,  legislative  as  well  as  administrative  work 
has  been  assimied  by  the  mayor  and  the  directors  of 
the  various  departments,  who  prepare  the  budget, 
formulate  policies,  and  draft  most  of  the  ordinances 
for  consideration  by  the  council.  This  transfer  of 
legislative  power  to  the  executive  department  is  fre- 
quently at  variance  with  the  theory  of  our  charters, 
which  assume  the  separation  of  legislative  and  ad- 
ministrative functions  under  the  practice  which  pre- 
vails in  the  state  and  Federal  governments. 


240  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

While  the  magistrat  is  the  actual  directing  agency 
of  the  German  city,  the  council  is  by  no  means  an 
unimportant  factor  in  administration.  It  has  not 
lost  its  dignity  or  authority,  as  has  the  council  in 
America.  It  selects  the  burgomaster  and  the  mem- 
bers of  the  magistrat.  It  advises  with  the  magistrat 
and  sometimes  comes  in  conflict  with  it.  Every 
legislative  measure  which  affects  the  municipality 
must  be  passed  by  it.  In  case  of  a  deadlock  with 
the  magistrat,  differences  are  adjusted  by  a  joint 
conference  committee,  and  if  this  fails  the  appropria- 
tion or  question  in  dispute  is  referred  to  the  central 
administrative  authorities  for  decision. 

The  laws  of  the  several  states — Prussia,  Bavaria, 
Saxony,  Wiirtemburg,  and  some  of  the  cities,  like 
Hamburg,  Bremen,  and  Frankfort — differ  as  to  the 
size  of  the  council  and  the  magistrat,  as  to  the  length 
of  terms  and  qualifications  of  the  suffrage,  but  in  the 
main  the  cities  are  administered  under  the  same  gen- 
eral plan.  And  this  plan  has  remained  practically 
unchanged  for  more  than  a  centuiy.  The  laws  gov- 
erning municipal  administration  are  based  on  the 
reforms  of  Stein  and  Hardenberg  enacted  in  1808, 
which  reforms  gave  the  cities  large  freedom  of  action 
and  established  the  machinery  upon  which  subse- 
quent legislation  has  been  based.  Just  as  the  main 
features  of  the  British  system  are  traceable  to  the 
Municipal  Corporations  Act  of  1835,  so  in  Germany 
the  small  town  has  grown  into  the  metropolis  under 


I 


HOW  THE  GERMAN  CITY  IS  GOVERNED    241 

charters  provided  before  the  industrial  city  made  its 
appearance.  While  reformers  in  America  have  de- 
voted themselves  to  changing  the  form  of  the  char- 
ter, to  finding  new  political  machinery  for  doing 
things,  the  German  and  British  cities  have  accepted 
administrative  forms  a  century  old,  and  concerned 
themselves  with  the  functions  and  possibilities  of 
the  city,  rather  than  with  finding  new  ways  to  govern 
them.  In  both  countries  there  have  been  many 
changes  in  the  substantive  law;  the  powers  of  the 
cities  have  been  enlarged  and  the  laws  have  been 
codified,  but  the  cities  have  moved  on  from  one 
activity  to  another  with  little  complaint  as  to  the 
agencies  employed.  In  this  they  differ  radically 
from  the  cities  of  this  country,  where  reform  has 
been  concerned  more  largely  with  method  than 
achievement. 

It  is  not  probable  that  we  shall  adopt  either  the 
German  or  the  British  system  of  administration, 
although  we  shall  undoubtedly  develop  means  for 
securing  permanence  and  the  trained  expert  in  office. 
This  is  already  being  done  indirectly  through  the 
establishment  of  efficiency  and  research  bureaus  in 
connection  with  many  cities.  The  commission  form 
of  government  makes  for  permanence  in  personnel, 
while  the  suggestion  has  been  made  in  some  cities 
for  the  employment  of  a  city  manager,  to  whom  the 
actual  administration  is  to  be  transferred  under  the 
direction  of  the  council.    It  is  only  a  matter  of  time 


242  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

before  our  cities  will  find  means  for  identifying  train- 
ing and  experience  with  administration.  In  this, 
as  in  many  other  problems,  om*  cities  are  working 
out  a  solution  in  their  own  way  and  without  being 
conscious  of  the  fact  that  it  is  being  done. 


I 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  BUSINESS  MEN  WHO  RULE  THE  GERMAN 
CITY,  AND  THEIR  IDEALS 

The  German  city  is  democratic,  even  socialistic^ 
in  its  services,  but  not  in  its  political  machinery. 
The  American  city,  on  the  other  hand,  is  democratic 
in  its  machinery  and  professions,  but  not  in  its  ser- 
vices. Yet  the  cities  of  Germany  and  America  are 
in  reality  ruled  by  the  same  class,  by  the  influential 
business  men.  In  Prussia  the  control  is  direct  and 
official.  It  is  legalized  by  a  system  of  voting.  In 
America,  on  the  other  hand,  control  is  secured  indi- 
rectly through  the  ascendency  of  private  interests  in 
the  state  legislature,  city  council,  and  party  machin- 
ery, as  well  as  through  the  agencies  of  public  opinion, 
which  for  the  most  part  are  owned  or  controlled  by 
the  privileged  classes  which  stand  behind  the  boss, 
the  party,  and  the  machine.  The  business  men  who 
rule  the  German  city  are  not  the  small  shopkeepers 
as  in  Great  Britain ;  they  are  the  bankers,  merchants, 
real-estate  speculators,  and  professional  men.  They 
form  the  ruling  class.  They  elect  the  council,  which 
in  turn  elects  the  burgomaster  and  members  of  the 
magistrat. 

In  Prussia  this  control  by  the  well-to-do  classes  is 

243 


244  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

secured  by  the  laws  which  control  the  suffrage  of  that 
state.  ^Miile  manhood  suffrage  prevails  in  elections 
to  the  Reichstag,  it  does  not  prevail  in  the  Prussian 
Diet  or  in  the  cities  of  the  state.  Through  the 
methods  of  voting  the  large  taxpayers  select  the  ma- 
jority of  the  council.  The  power  of  the  voter  at  the 
ballot-box  is  determined  by  the  amount  of  his  income 
tax.  Taxpayers  are  divided  into  three  classes,  each 
one  of  which  elects  one-third  of  the  council.  The 
classification  for  voting  is  as  follows:  beginning  with 
the  highest  single  tax-payer,  men  are  checked  off  in 
order  until  one-third  of  the  total  taxes  is  ascertained. 
The  taxpayers  in  this  group  constitute  the  first  class, 
and  elect  one-third  of  the  council.  Then  those  whose 
aggregate  taxes  comprise  another  thkd  of  the  total 
are  checked  off,  and  they  constitute  the  second  group. 
The  great  mass  of  the  electors,  whose  aggregate  in- 
come taxes  comprise  another  third  of  the  total,  make 
up  the  third  class.  This,  in  substance,  is  the  law 
governing  the  suffrage  in  Prussia,  although  in  1900 
the  method  of  procedure  was  changed  somewhat,  and 
made  rather  more  complicated. 

Under  this  arrangement  an  insignificant  number  of 
persons  elect  one-third  of  the  city  council,  while  a 
small  minority  elects  two-thirds  of  it.  The  first  class 
rarely  consists  of  more  than  3  per  cent,  of  the  total 
number  of  voters,  while  the  first  and  second  classes 
combined  range  from  10  to  20  per  cent,  of  the  total. 
In  Essen,  where  the  Frederick  Krupp  Steel  Works 


1 


GERMAN  BUSINESS  MEN  245 

are  located,  there  were  in  1900  only  3  electors  in  the 
first  class,  with  401  in  the  second.  These  3  men 
elected  one-third  of  the  council,  while  404  out  of 
nearly  20,000  electors  chose  two-thirds  of  the  mem- 
bers. In  HaUe,  there  were  178  voters  in  the  first 
class,  and  in  Aachen,  130.  In  Berlin,  in  1903  there 
were  1,857  electors  in  the  first  class,  and  29,711  in  the 
second;  31,568  electors  out  of  a  total  of  349,105  chose 
two-thirds  of  the  council.  In  Breslau,  with  a  voting 
population  of  26,211,  there  were  669  in  the  first  class 
and  4,358  in  the  second.  In  Cologne  there  were  511 
in  the  first  class  and  5,659  in  the  second.  The  total 
number  of  voters  in  the  third  class  in  Breslau  was 
21,184,  and  in  Cologne,  41,321.  From  these  figures 
it  appears  that  a  very  much  smaller  percentage  of  the 
population  votes  than  in  America,  for  in  our  cities  of 
the  size  of  Cologne  or  Breslau,  the  total  number  of 
votes  cast  would  run  from  70,000  to  100,000. 

The  example  of  Berlin  indicates  the  limitations  on 
the  suffrage,  and  the  way  the  great  mass  of  the  people 
are  denied  any  hope  of  control.  The  registered  elec- 
tors for  the  year  1909  numbered  351,000.  For  every 
elector  in  the  first  class  there  were  21  electors  in  the 
second,  and  214  in  the  third.  In  the  city  council  of 
Berlin  there  are  144  seats,  one-third  of  which,  or  48, 
are  apportioned  to  each  class.  As  a  result,  34  electors 
on  an  average  select  a  councilman  in  the  first  class, 
and  721  electors  select  a  councilman  in  the  third 
class. 


246  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

This  is  the  Prussian  three-class  system,  against 
which  the  Socialists  and  radicals  are  protesting.  It 
applies  to  state  as  well  as  to  municipal  elections. 
When  the  imperial  constitution  was  adopted  in  1871, 
Prussia,  which  is  the  dominant  power  in  the  empire, 
based  its  suffrage  on  the  wealth  and  income  of  the 
taxpayer.  It  is  this  system  of  voting  that  Hes  at  the 
heart  of  reaction  in  Germany.  It  is  this  that  gives 
the  large  land-owners  of  east  Prussia  control  of  the 
state  and  the  wealthy  business  men  control  of  the 
city.  It  is  this  that  prevents  the  Socialists  from  se- 
curing control  of  the  towns,  in  which  they  are  par- 
ticularly strong,  for  nearly  every  large  city  sends  So- 
cialist members  to  the  Reichstag,  for  which  body  the 
suffrage  requirements  are  on  the  democratic  basis  of 
one  man,  one  vote.  In  imperial  elections  the  suf- 
frage is  universal,  as  it  is  in  America. 

In  addition  to  these  inequaHties  in  the  suffrage 
other  limitations  are  imposed  on  the  selection  of 
members  of  the  council,  which  tend  to  make  it  still 
further  conservative.  In  Prussia  the  suffrage  is  con- 
fined to  male  citizens  of  twenty-four  years  of  age  who 
have  paid  municipal  taxes,  who  own  a  dwelling-house 
or  pursue  a  trade  or  profession  which  yields  an  in- 
come. Even  some  corporations  are  allowed  to  vote. 
In  addition  the  ballot  is  open  rather  than  secret, 
while  a  considerable  period  of  residence  is  required 
in  the  city.  The  laboring  classes  are  still  further 
excluded  by  the  requirement  that  one-half  of  the 


GERMAN  BUSINESS  MEN  247 

members  of  the  council  must  be  owners  of  real  es- 
tate— a  limitation  which  tends  to  make  the  land- 
owners and  real-estate  speculators  unduly  prominent 
in  city  affairs. 

The  three-class  system  of  voting  does  not  exist  in 
Bavaria  or  in  a  number  of  smaller  states.  Propor- 
tional representation  was  introduced  into  Bavaria  in 
1906.  Under  it  members  of  the  city  council  are 
chosen  by  political  parties  in  proportion  to  their  vot- 
ing strength.  The  suffrage  is  still  not  universal, 
but  is  much  more  nearly  so  than  in  Prussia.  In 
Munich,  the  capital  of  Bavaria,  one  must  live  in  the 
city  for  two  years,  have  an  income  of  $300,  and  have 
paid  $37.50,  for  admission  to  the  rights  of  suffrage. 
In  Munich  there  are  now  fifteen  Socialists  in  the  city 
council,  while  four  members  of  the  magistrat  belong 
to  this  party.  In  Hamburg,  which  is  a  free  city,  and 
in  Frankfort  the  suffrage  is  on  a  somewhat  different 
basis,  as  it  is  in  many  of  the  smaller  states  of  the 
empire.  Prussia,  however,  contains  most  of  the  large 
cities. 

There  is  relatively  little  politics  as  we  understand 
it  in  city  elections.  The  system  of  voting  and  the 
selection  of  members  of  the  council  by  wards  pre- 
clude it.  Nor  is  there  much  controversy  over  the 
policies  to  be  pursued  or  the  programme  to  be  fol- 
lowed. The  permanent  magistrat  and  its  willing- 
ness to  engage  in  any  kind  of  activity  for  the  wel- 
fare of  the  community  preclude  such  controvereies. 


248  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

The  Socialists,  it  is  true,  have  a  definite  municipal 
programme  and  would  carry  municipal  socialism 
much  further  than  any  of  the  cities  have  done.  And 
in  order  to  promote  their  programme  they  conduct 
aggressive  municipal  campaigns.  In  Bavaria  they 
will  probably  control  the  councils  of  many  cities 
and  attempt  to  carry  their  programme  into  execu- 
tion. 

Despite  the  political  power  of  the  business  men, 
they  do  not  legislate  in  the  interest  of  their  class,  as 
they  do  in  America.  That  is  one  of  the  anomahes  of 
Germany,  for  I  know  of  no  other  country  in  the 
world  in  which  this  is  true.  Political  power  is  almost 
always  used  to  promote  the  economic  interests  of  the 
class  which  rules.  Men  seem  unable  to  detach  their 
public  from  their  private  interests  when  elevated  to 
places  of  trust.  They  still  vote  as  railway  and  fran- 
chise owners,  as  manufacturers  and  land  speculators. 
The  German  junker,  who  controls  the  politics  of  Prus- 
sia, and  through  Prussia  the  politics  of  the  empire, 
almost  always  votes  as  a  junker.  He  represents  his 
class.  And  the  tariff  laws  of  Germany,  as  well  as 
measures  affecting  the  internal  administration,  re- 
flect the  economic  interests  of  the  landed  aristocracy. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  landed  class  of  Great  Britain. 
It  is  true  of  the  business  men  in  the  American  Con- 
gress, in  the  legislatures  of  our  States,  and  in  the 
administration  of  our  cities.  But  the  business  men 
who  rule  the  German  cities  seem  to  have  risen  above 


GERMAN  BUSINESS  MEN  249 

the  interests  of  their  class.  They  have  built  cities 
for  people,  for  all  the  people.  They  have  adminis- 
tered them  for  business,  but  for  all  business  rather 
than  for  that  of  a  limited  class.  They  have  con- 
trolled the  factory  and  the  mill-owner  and  compelled 
them  to  locate  in  certain  limited  districts.  They 
have  taken  the  street  railways,  gas,  electric-lighting, 
and  water  companies  away  from  other  business  men. 
They  have  erected  docks  and  harbors  to  encour- 
age competition  rather  than  monopoly.  Pawn-shops, 
savings  and  mortgage  banks,  have  been  municipal- 
ized in  the  interests  of  the  working-classes,  while  mu- 
nicipal houses  have  been  erected  in  competition 
with  private  landlords  to  improve  the  housing  condi- 
tions of  the  city.  Business  men  approve  of  munici- 
pal land  speculation  schemes  as  a  means  of  keeping 
down  the  price  of  private  speculators.  But,  more 
remarkable  still,  they  have  shifted  the  burdens  of 
taxation  from  the  poor  onto  their  own  shoulders. 
They  have  taxed  their  incomes  heavily,  have  taxed 
business  and  luxuries,  and  imposed  the  unearned  in- 
crement tax  on  the  profits  of  land-owners.  From 
one-third  to  one-half  of  the  revenue  of  the  German 
city  comes  from  income  taxes,  while  the  bulk  of  it  is 
derived  from  wealth  in  some  form  or  other.  More- 
over, income  taxes  are  progressive,  and  bear  most 
heavily  on  those  best  able  to  pay. 

The  complaint  is  frequently  heard  that  real-estate 
interests  and  house-owners'  organizations  control  city 


250  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

administrations;  that  many  projects  for  the  wel- 
fare of  the  poorer  class  are  defeated  because  of  the 
opposition  of  the  property-owning  classes  which 
control  the  suffrage.  The  Prussian  law  provides 
that  one-half  of  the  council  must  be  owners  of  real 
property,  while  the  suffrage  itself  gives  the  large  tax- 
payers a  predominant  influence  in  elections.  Real- 
estate  interests  have  undoubtedly  defeated  trans- 
portation proposals  designed  to  open  up  the  suburbs; 
they  have  prevented  the  laying  out  of  new  territory 
and  the  natural  expansion  of  the  city;  they  have 
prevented  the  increase  of  taxes  on  real  estate.  The 
imperial  unearned  increment  tax  of  1911  was  seri- 
ously weakened  by  the  amendments  which  the  real- 
estate  interests  secured  during  the  consideration  of 
the  measure  in  the  Reichstag.  Some  housing  ex- 
perts explain  the  universal  prevalence  of  the  tene- 
ment and  apartment  house,  in  which  the  great  mass 
of  the  people  dwell,  as  a  result  of  real-estate  interests 
and  house-owners'  associations,  which  have  pre- 
vented city-widening  proposals  in  order  to  main- 
tain city  rents  and  urban  land  values.  It  is  claimed 
that  the  extension  of  suburban  transit  in  Berlin  has 
been  checked  by  these  same  interests,  while  the  com- 
plaint is  also  heard  that  the  suburban  planning  proj- 
ects are  delayed  in  execution  or  confined  to  sections 
available  only  for  the  well-to-do  classes  by  the  same 
unconscious  class  instinct.  Undoubtedly  these  class 
interests  do  influence  city  administrations,  but  this 


GERMAN  BUSINESS  MEN  251 

is  the  most  serious  charge  I  ever  heard  against  the 
administration  of  the  German  city. 

Aside  from  this  charge  the  German  city  is  honestly 
administered.  Scandals  are  of  such  rare  occurrence 
as  to  be  almost  unknown,  as  is  bribeiy  or  corruption. 
The  councils  attract  men  of  integrity  and  ability. 
The  best  citizens  are  willing  to  accept  election,  no 
matter  what  the  claims  of  their  private  affairs  may 
be.  Public  place  carries  with  it  social  prestige. 
The  King  has  encouraged  public  service  in  the  mili- 
tary and  civil  departments,  and  the  rank  which  a 
man  and  his  family  take  is  in  large  part  determined 
by  official  precedence.  In  addition,  municipal  ad- 
ministration is  alluring,  even  in  the  council.  It  offers 
opportunities  for  men  of  talent.  One's  associates 
are  agreeable  and  intelligent,  while  many  distinctions 
and  social  opportunities  are  opened  through  it. 


CHAPTER  XV 
THE   EXPLANATION   OF   THE    GERMAN    CITY 

Why  is  the  German  city  so  eflScient,  honest,  and 
business-like  in  its  administration?  What  Hes  back 
of  the  pride  of  the  business  men?  Why  do  they  serve 
so  willingly  on  the  council?  Why  do  they  accept 
such  burdensome  income,  land,  and  business  taxes, 
and  submit  to  the  control  of  their  business  and  their 
freedom  with  so  little  organized  protest? 

I  have  asked  these  questions  of  many  business 
men.  I  have  tried  to  understand  the  German  city. 
It  is  not  long  experience  in  city  administration,  for 
the  industrial  city  is  of  even  more  recent  appearance 
in  Germany  than  in  America  or  England.  Its  life 
covers  but  a  generation.  There  were  no  great  cities 
prior  to  1870,  long  after  the  British  city  had  risen 
to  importance,  long  after  the  American  city  had 
begun  to  be  a  problem. 

Nor  is  it  traceable  to  the  ascendency  of  the  busi- 
ness men  at  the  polls  or  the  limitations  on  the  suf- 
frage, for  the  attitude  of  the  business  men  is  the  atti- 
tude of  all  classes.  The  Socialist  party,  which  would 
control  many  of  the  cities  under  universal  suffrage, 
is  as  free,  probably  more  free,  from  interested  mo- 

252 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY    253 

tives  than  the  other  classes.  It  sends  many  eminent 
men  to  the  Reichstag,  and  is  essentially  a  party  of 
principles.  And  it  has  a  well-defined  and  very  ad- 
vanced municipal  programme.  Universal  suffrage, 
on  which  they  insist,  would  probably  not  change  the 
character  of  municipal  administration  or  the  quality 
of  the  men  in  the  permanent  service.  It  would  un- 
doubtedly affect  the  policies  of  cities,  and  still  fur- 
ther widen  their  activities. 

The  explanation  of  the  German  city  lies  deeper 
than  these  things.  It  is  found,  I  think,  in  the  psy- 
chology of  the  people,  and  that  psychology,  in  turn,  is 
traceable  to  home  rule,  to  the  freedom  of  the  city  to 
do  as  it  wills  in  almost  all  matters  which  affect  its 
life.  Of  all  the  causes  I  think  this  is  the  most  im- 
portant, for  each  city  has  liberty  of  action  to  work 
out  its  own  destiny.  Without  this  freedom  the 
city  might  have  been  honest  and  efficient.  It  never 
could  have  become  the  model  of  the  world. 

For  the  German  city  is  free,  free  to  own  almost 
anything,  free  to  control  the  individual  and  his  prop- 
erty, free  to  borrow,  free  to  experiment,  free  to 
develop  as  it  wills.  Its  bonds  to  the  state  rest  so 
lightly  that  it  is  almost  unconscious  of  its  chains. 
The  citizen  is  a  subject  of  the  city,  just  as  he  is  a 
subject  of  the  state  and  the  empire.  And  his  de- 
votion to  his  city  is  very  much  like  his  devotion  to 
the  fatherland. 

Under  the  laws  of  the  state  the  German  city  can 


254  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

do  anything  it  is  not  expressly  forbidden  to  do,  or 
that  the  central  administrative  authorities  do  not  for- 
bid. Generally  speaking,  it  can  do  anything  an  in- 
dividual can  do.  Under  the  municipal  act  of  1853 
local  authorities  have  authority  to  perform  any  func- 
tions that  are  necessary  or  wise  for  the  welfare  of 
the  municipality,  provided  only  that  these  activities 
do  not  come  in  conflict  with  the  laws  of  the  state. 
Dr.  Albert  Shaw  says:  "There  are,  in  the  German 
conception  of  city  government,  no  limits  whatever  to 
municipal  functions.  It  is  the  business  of  the  mu- 
nicipality to  promote  in  every  feasible  way  its  own 
welfare  and  the  welfare  of  its  citizens."  ^ 

The  powers  of  the  city  are  not  specifically  enu- 
merated, as  they  are  with  us.  The  city  is  assumed 
to  have  all  the  power  necessary  for  its  local  life. 
This,  roughly,  is  its  status  under  the  laws  of  Prussia 
and  the  other  states  in  the  empire.  For  the  laws 
which  govern  the  cities  are  enacted  by  the  individual 
states,  as  they  are  with  us,  and  not  by  the  empire. 

This  is  where  the  German  city  differs  most  radi- 
cally from  our  own.  For  the  American  municipality 
enjoys  only  such  authority  as  is  specifically  granted 
to  it.  Its  powers  are  set  forth  with  the  utmost  par- 
ticularity. There  are  few  presumptions  in  the  city's 
favor;  it  has  few  implied  powers.  It  has  none  of  the 
liberty  of  a  private  corporation  or  of  an  individual. 
It  can  only  act  as  it  is  told  to  act.    And  the  courts 

*  Municipal  Government  in  Continental  Europe,  p.  323. 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY    255 

interpret  the  things  it  can  do  and  the  way  they  must 
be  done,  with  the  presumption  against  the  city  rather 
than  in  its  favor. 

The  American  city  is  in  bondage  to  a  higher  au- 
thority, to  which  it  must  constantly  go  for  rehef .  In 
many  instances  it  cannot  control  its  own  employees 
or  change  their  salaries.  It  can  only  enter  on  the 
smallest  undertaking  after  it  has  secured  permission 
from  a  reluctant  legislature.  It  cannot  regulate  the 
public  service  corporations  that  lie  so  close  to  its 
life;  and,  generally  speaking,  it  can  own  only  water 
and  electric-lighting  undertakings.  It  cannot  secure 
better  street-car  service,  extensions  to  new  territory, 
or  a  change  in  the  lighting  power  of  gas  or  the  charges 
for  any  of  these  services.  The  tenements  and  the 
slums  are  almost  immune  from  the  city's  control,  as 
are  the  height,  style,  and  character  of  buildings. 
The  city  cannot  borrow  as  it  wills,  for  its  borrowing 
capacity  is  limited  by  law,  and  is  usually  below  what 
is  needed  to  keep  pace  with  its  growing  necessities. 
Nor  can  it  collect  revenues  beyond  a  certain  limit  or 
experiment  with  taxation.  The  American  city  lives 
within  the  most  carefully  prescribed  rubrics,  designed 
not  to  promote  efficiency,  but  to  protect  property. 
The  powers  it  enjoys  lag  many  years  behind  the  needs 
of  the  day,  and  are  only  enlarged  after  exhausting 
contests  before  the  legislature  or  too  late  for  the 
prevention  of  abuses  that  can  only  be  corrected  at 
colossal  cost.    Privileged  interests,  political  bosses, 


256  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

and  suspicious  farmers  have  been  engaged  for  a  gen- 
eration in  welding  chains  about  our  cities,  until  they 
have  become  our  most  helpless  and  inelastic  polit- 
ical agencies. 

The  denial  of  home  rule  is  one  of  the  many  anom- 
alies of  our  poHtics.  In  a  countrj'-  where  all  the  as- 
sumptions are  of  democracy  local  self-government 
in  important  things  is  almost  non-existent.  Consti- 
tutions, charters,  and  judicial  decisions  have  so 
cribbed,  cabined,  and  confined  the  American  city 
that  the  wonder  is  that  it  has  done  as  well  as  it  has. 

Monarchical  Germany  reverses  this  principle.  It 
assumes  as  a  matter  of  course  that  the  city  should 
be  as  powerful  as  a  private  individual,  certainly  as 
powerful  as  a  private  corporation.  And  the  things 
forbidden  are  relatively  few.  The  city  has  wide  lati- 
tude in  the  ways  it  can  raise  its  revenues.  It  can 
adopt  the  business,  license,  or  real-estate  taxes,  and 
fix  the  rates  that  shall  be  paid.  There  is  no  legal 
limit  to  the  tax  rate,  although  the  interior  depart- 
ment reserves  the  right  to  participate  in  the  admin- 
istration if  the  income  tax  exceeds  a  certain  figure. 
Nor  are  there  any  limits  on  the  amount  of  money 
that  can  be  borrowed  or  the  purposes  for  which  it 
can  be  used.  And  the  debts  of  German  cities  are 
frequently  many  times  those  of  an  American  city  of 
the  same  size.  The  city  engages  in  land  speculation 
for  profit ;  it  owns  farms  and  forests,  docks  and  har- 
bors, savings-banks,  mortgage  institutions,  and  pawn- 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY    257 

shops.  It  loans  money  for  house-building,  erects 
houses  for  its  working-people,  owns  opera-houses, 
theatres,  and  exposition  buildings,  and  operates  wine- 
handling  businesses  for  profit.  It  controls  the  land 
speculator  and  plans  his  land  for  him;  it  determines 
the  purposes  for  which  the  land  shall  be  used  before 
it  is  sold.  It  determines  the  height  to  which  men 
can  build,  the  amount  of  land  that  can  be  covered  by 
improvements,  and  the  distance  houses  shall  be  lo- 
cated from  the  street.  In  some  sections  villas  only 
may  be  erected,  in  others  apartment-houses,  in  others 
workingmen's  cottages.  The  city  prescribes  where 
factories  shall  go;  it  prevents  smoke  and  noise,  and 
by  direct  or  indirect  action  controls  the  style  of  archi- 
tecture that  may  be  employed.  The  power  of  the 
German  city  over  property  is  as  far-reaching  as  its 
power  over  persons. 

The  German  city  has  more  than  home  rule.  It  is 
almost  a  Httle  republic,  like  the  freistddte  of  the 
middle  ages,  which  owed  allegiance  to  no  one.  Cities 
are,  however,  subject  to  administrative  supervision 
by  the  interior  department.  New  undertakings 
must  be  sanctioned  by  the  central  authorities,  which 
may  disapprove  of  them  if  they  seem  too  great  a 
departure  from  municipal  experience.  Bond  issues 
must  also  be  approved.  The  interior  department 
oversees  the  enforcement  of  certain  laws  which  relate 
to  purely  state  policies,  such  as  the  maintenance  of 
the  minimum  educational  standard  of  the  state. 


258  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

Below  this  the  city  must  not  fall,  although  it  may 
extend  its  educational  system  indefinitely  beyond 
the  minimum.  The  interior  department  is  also  an 
advisory  agency.  It  sets  standards,  collects  statistics, 
and  encourages  projects  of  importance  to  the  nation 
or  the  community.  It  is  a  bureau  of  municipal  re- 
search. Its  function  is  one  of  encouragement  and 
direction,  rather  than  repression.  The  German  city 
is  subject  to  administrative  rather  than  legislative 
control  by  the  state. 

Under  this  arrangement  great  elasticity  is  secured. 
There  is  local  freedom,  subject  to  the  possibility  of 
veto  by  the  state.  Every  city  can  develop  as  suits 
its  particular  local  needs  or  ambitions.  It  must  live 
up  to  a  certain  standard,  but  beyond  this  it  can  go 
as  far  as  it  likes,  and  as  long  as  the  central  authority 
does  not  intervene.  This  procedure  has  great  advan- 
tages. It  makes  each  community  an  experiment 
station.  Most  of  the  municipal  achievements  of 
Germany  have  been  first  worked  out  by  one  city, 
and  when  success  has  been  assured  the  idea  has 
been  copied  by  others. 

Freedom,  too,  has  had  an  inspiriting  effect  on  the 
people.  It  has  created  a  love  and  pride  in  the  city 
that  is  not  found  in  England,  France,  or  America. 
And  such  pride  cannot  arise  without  freedom.  Men 
cannot  be  aroused  to  interest  in  a  movement  which 
they  cannot  achieve  or  in  which  they  do  not  directly 
participate.    It  is  impossible  to  awaken  enthusiasm 


New  City  Hall,  Dresden. 


New  Gothic  City  Hall,  Munich. 

City  halls  in  Germany  are  of  great  splendor.     They  are  used  for  a  variety  of 
public  purposes  and  usually  contain  rathskellers  in  the  basement. 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY    259 

for  a  project  that  involves  first  a  change  in  the  Con- 
stitution, then  a  change  in  the  State  laws,  then  the 
assent  of  the  local  authorities.  It  is  hard  to  become 
interested  in  a  cause  when  the  fruits  of  victory  may 
be  taken  away  by  the  courts  or  the  next  session  of 
the  legislature.  We  have  violated  all  social  psychol- 
ogy— violated  it  so  completely  that  the  wonder  is  we 
have  any  city  spirit  left. 

Wherever  the  city  has  been  free — free  to  govern 
itself  as  it  willed,  to  build,  to  reahze  the  ambitions  of 
men — there  local  love  and  patriotism  have  flowered. 
There,  too,  civilization  has  reached  a  high  develop- 
ment, for  the  civiUzation  of  every  age  has  been  a 
city  civUization. 

The  Greek  cities  had  such  freedom.  Each  city 
was  a  little  republic.  The  individual  was  almost  lost 
in  the  community.  Athens,  Corinth,  Syracuse,  were 
the  centres  of  art,  culture,  and  the  drama.  There 
was  no  conflict  between  public  and  private  rights, 
for  private  rights  were  not  recognized  when  in  con- 
flict with  public  needs.  The  city  built  temples, 
rather  than  homes.  Rich  citizens  adorned  the  city 
with  expressions  of  their  patriotism.  Leisure  was 
provided  for,  as  were  education,  the  drama,  and  the 
arts.  The  Greek  city  was  free  to  change  its  form 
of  government.  It  could  collect  its  revenues  as  it 
willed.  It  was  free  to  spend  them  as  the  ambition 
of  the  community  decreed.  For  the  city  was  also 
the  state. 


260  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

Rome,  too,  was  a  city  republic.  All  Italy  was 
tributary  to  the  city,  rather  than  the  reverse.  Here, 
too,  civilization  flourished  again.  And  in  Rome,  as 
in  Greece,  the  ambitions  of  men  found  expression  in 
temples,  gardens,  public  baths,  amphitheatres,  and 
other  monuments  of  public  character. 

Florence,  Genoa,  Venice,  Padua,  the  cities  of  medi- 
aeval Italy,  were  also  free.  They  had  no  distant  over- 
lord. In  these  cities  civilization  awakened  again  af- 
ter slumbering  for  centuries.  They  gave  birth  to 
the  greatest  art  the  world  had  known  since  Athens. 
They  recalled  the  learning  of  the  past,  and  produced 
painters,  architects,  and  men  of  learning  whose  work 
has  enriched  subsequent  generations.  In  these  cit- 
ies the  rich  merchants  vied  with  one  another  not  only 
for  power,  but  for  the  beautification  of  their  cities. 
They,  too,  were  free  to  give  expression  to  their  am- 
bitions without  the  supervision  of  constitutions,  laws, 
or  the  authority  of  a  jealous  overlord. 

The  mediaeval  cities  of  Germany  and  the  Nether- 
lands were  free  cities.  Frankfort,  Hamburg,  Bremen, 
Liibeck,  Nuremberg,  Brussels,  Bruges,  Ghent — in 
these  cities  commerce  came  to  Hfe.  The  burghers 
cast  off  the  chains  of  the  dark  ages.  They  bought  or 
fought  for  their  freedom  from  the  baron  on  whose 
territory  the  cities  came  into  existence.  And  free- 
dom produced  the  splendid  halls  which  still  adorn 
these  cities.  The  guilds  erected  palaces  which  still 
remain  in  Brussels,  Bremen,  and  Frankfort.    For 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY    261 

three  hundred  years  these  free  cities  kept  alive  the 
liberty  of  Europe  and  enabled  men  to  acquire  wealth 
and  learning,  to  engage  in  trade  and  commerce;  to 
lay  the  foundations  for  present-day  civilization. 

Again  in  the  twentieth  century  the  German  city 
recalls  the  ideals  of  earlier  centuries.  Even  the  al- 
most disfranchised  workingmen  have  a  city  sense. 
Certainly  the  business  men,  who  in  this  country  are 
either  indifferent  to  the  city  or  are  actively  at  war 
against  it,  are  very  proud  of  their  cities.  They  are 
interested  in  the  big  things  the  city  is  doing — in  the 
schools  and  hospitals,  in  the  parks  and  public  gar- 
dens, in  the  business  activities  of  the  city,  in  its 
health,  its  comfort,  its  beauty.  To  the  promotion  of 
these  things  men  contribute  of  their  wealth.  They 
do  not  give  to  charity,  to  the  endowment  of  hospitals 
or  universities;  rather  their  gifts  are  for  gardens,  pub- 
lic places,  the  building  of  schools,  or  for  work  of  a 
constructive  character. 

It  is  difficult  to  know  how  far  this  city  sense  ex- 
tends; as  to  how  universally  it  is  felt  by  the  working 
classes  who  participate  so  little  in  the  actual  control 
of  the  city.  There  may  be  great  numbers  who  care 
Httle  for  the  city,  for  large  numbers  do  not  vote,  for 
one  reason  or  another.  And  the  attitude  of  mind  of 
rich  cities  Hke  Diisseldorf  and  Frankfort  is  undoubt- 
edly different  from  cities  like  Essen,  Barmen,  and 
Elberfeld.  Among  the  classes  accessible  to  the  trav- 
eller, however,  there  is  a  wide-spread  affection  for 


262  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

the  city  that  does  not  seem  to  exist  anywhere  else 
on  the  continent. 

There  are  still  other  explanations  of  the  German 
city — explanations  that  are  traceable  to  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  comitry,  of  a  feudal  society  in  which  the 
individual  was  subordinate  to  the  state.  From  these 
traditions  Germany  has  never  been  emancipated. 
Up  to  forty  years  ago  the  population  was  almost 
wholly  agricultural.  The  change  to  industr}^  was 
sudden  and  abrupt.  The  factory  appeared  almost  a 
hundred  years  after  it  came  to  England.  The  com- 
mercial classes  have  never  been  powerful  enough  to 
control  politics,  as  in  America;  nor  have  they  united 
with  the  landed  aristocracy,  as  in  Great  Britain. 
And  the  traditions  of  feudalism  still  affect  all  classes; 
they  mould  the  prejudices  and  the  philosophy  of  the 
state. 

One  of  these  traditions  is  the  dignity  of  the  state. 
Germany  has  never  known  that  license  of  business 
that  exists  in  America,  a  license  that  has  moulded 
politics,  the  press,  and  pubhc  opinion  to  its  will.  The 
ruling  political  class  in  the  empire  is  still  the  landed 
aristocracy,  an  aristocracy  almost  as  feudal  as  it  was 
at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  And  the  jun- 
ker is  jealous  of  the  commercial  classes,  fast  rising  to 
power.  But  while  the  junker  rules  Prussia  and  looks 
out  for  his  landed  interests,  he  has  no  city  posses- 
sions to  protect  as  in  England.  The  ruling  aristoc- 
racy do  not  own  the  franchise  corporations,  the 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY    263 

docks,  the  markets,  or  city  land;  nor  do  they  own 
the  railroads,  the  express  and  the  telegraph  com- 
panies. These  industries  are  the  property  of  the  in- 
dividual states,  and  have  been  for  three-quarters  of 
a  century. 

Having  no  privileges  to  protect,  the  ruling  aristoc- 
racy in  the  state  gave  the  cities  freedom,  the  right 
to  own  things,  to  control  property.  There  is  no  con- 
flict between  their  economic  interests  and  their  pa- 
triotism as  there  is  in  Great  Britain  and  America. 
This  in  part  explains  why  the  cities  have  been  given 
such  unlimited  freedom  in  local  administration. 

In  addition,  the  idea  of  public  ownership  is  old  in 
Germany.  It  is  part  of  the  traditions  of  the  coun- 
try. All  of  the  German  states  are  great  land-owners, 
while  cities  own  forests  and  agricultural  land.  The 
stateaj  own  coal-mines,  the  railways,  telegraph  and 
telephone  systems.  As  a  consequence  of  these  tradi- 
tions every  one  in  Germany  accepts  the  idea  of 
public  ownership  as  the  most  natural  thing  in  the 
world.  The  universities  reflect  this  attitude  of  mind, 
for  political  economy  was  not  influenced  by  the  in- 
dividualism of  Adam  Smith,  Ricardo,  and  John  Stu- 
art Mill  as  it  was  in  England  and  America.  There 
is  no  presumption  against  the  state  or  the  city,  no 
assumption  that  what  the  community  does  will  be 
badly  done,  and  that  only  through  enlightened  selfish- 
ness will  the  social  welfare  be  best  advanced. 

German  cities,  too,  are  very  old,  older  than  the 


264  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

cities  of  England.  Berlin  was  the  capital  city  of  the 
Hohenzollerns.  Dresden,  Munich,  Mannheim,  and 
Karlsruhe  were  capital  cities.  There  are  numerous 
other  hauptstddte  and  seats  of  bishoprics.  Hamburg, 
Bremen,  Frankfort,  and  Liibeck  were  free  cities, 
with  traditions  of  a  highly  organized  industrial  life 
running  back  into  the  fourteenth  century.  All  these 
cities  retain  many  monuments  of  their  early  life. 
They  are  embellished  with  palaces,  museums,  art 
galleries,  and  hofgartens.  Rulers  vied  with  one  an- 
other to  promote  the  arts  and  to  beautify  their  cap- 
itals. The  cities  of  Germany  were  old  before  the 
industrial  revolution  burst  on  the  world. 

In  America  we  have  no  such  traditions,  no  such 
monuments.  Our  only  memories  are  those  of  shops 
and  factories,  repeating  themselves  like  the  rings  of 
a  growing  tree  about  the  centre.  Our  ideals  are 
formed  by  the  men  who  built  the  railroads,  mills, 
and  factories.  Only  recently  have  we  begun  to  think 
in  other  terms  than  those  of  private  business. 

To  these  traditions  must  be  added  the  determina- 
tion of  Germany  to  become  a  world  power.  To  this 
end  much  of  the  best  thought  of  the  empire  is  dedi- 
cated. In  this  prograname  the  city  plays  a  promi- 
nent part,  as  does  science.  The  university  prepares 
men  not  only  for  private  but  for  public  professions 
as  well.  There  are  courses  in  law,  political  science, 
municipal  administration,  and  town  planning.  Men 
are  trained  to  be  burgomasters  as  they  are  to  be  law- 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY    265 

yers.  The  universities  and  their  laboratories  are  at 
the  command  of  the  city  as  they  are  of  the  state. 
Science  is  close  Hnked  with  politics.  And  nowhere 
is  the  intimacy  closer  than  in  the  study  of  the  prob- 
lems of  the  city. 

In  this  imperial  programme  of  industrial  eminence 
the  city  is  recognized  as  an  agency  for  its  promotion. 
The  health  of  the  people  is  endangered  by  industry. 
They  must  be  protected,  educated,  trained  to  be 
good  workmen  as  well  as  good  soldiers.  The  city 
can  promote  trade  or  retard  it,  it  can  stimulate  in- 
dustry by  offering  facilities  for  transit  by  rail  and 
by  water,  or  it  can  strangle  industry  by  leaving  these 
agencies  in  monopoly  hands.  The  city  is  also  recog- 
nized as  a  means  for  bettering  the  conditions  of  life 
and  for  the  promotion  of  comfort,  convenience,  and 
happiness. 

These  are  some  of  the  influences  that  lie  back  of 
the  German  city.  They  explain  the  attitude  of  mind 
of  the  voter,  of  the  burgomaster  and  the  council- 
men.  They  explain  the  mind  of  the  artisan  and  the 
business  man  as  well. 

There  are  other  forces  at  work  which  profoundly 
affect  the  psychology  of  the  German  city,  forces 
which  are  intimately  related  to  the  honesty,  efficiency, 
and  pubHc  spirit  of  official  and  citizen.  The  most 
important  of  these  is  the  bigness  of  the  city,  its  atti- 
tude toward  itself,  toward  the  activities  it  should 
assume  and  the  things  it  should  do.    The  German 


266  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

city  is  the  most  important  corporation  in  the  com- 
munity. Its  budget  is  larger  than  that  of  any  pri- 
vate corporation.  The  budget  of  the  city  of  Diis- 
seldorf  in  1909  (population  325,000)  was  $28,642,070, 
of  Cologne  (population  467,653),  $42,297,000.  This 
is  many  times  the  budget  of  an  American  city  of  the 
same  size.  These  expenditures  include  all  of  the 
activities  of  the  city,  the  street  railways,  gas,  water, 
and  electric-Hghting  enterprises,  the  land  owTied  by 
it,  the  docks,  markets,  banks,  and  other  undertakings. 
The  actual  receipts  from  taxation  of  Diisseldorf  were 
but  $2,856,600,  and  of  Cologne  but  $4,810,000,  or  in 
the  neighborhood  of  $10  per  capita.  The  business 
undertakings  of  the  city  are  nearly  ten  times  as  im- 
portant as  the  activities  maintained  through  taxa- 
tion. The  great  part  of  the  city  budget  relates  to 
business  pure  and  simple. 

And  these  activities  link  the  city  with  the  lives  of 
the  people.  They  touch  them  in  a  multitude  of  ways. 
The  police,  health,  and  sanitary  departments  are 
vigilant  and  efficient.  Education  is  in  close  touch 
with  the  home.  The  workman  goes  to  the  city  pawn- 
shop to  make  a  loan  and  to  the  city  savings-bank  to 
deposit  his  wages.  If  he  desires  to  own  a  home  he 
borrows  from  the  city  mortgage  bank  or  invests  in 
one  of  the  co-operative  building  associations  with 
which  the  city  is  identified.  WTien  sick  he  goes  to 
a  city  physician,  a  city  hospital,  sanatorium,  or  con- 
valescent home.    His  insurance  against  old  age,  sick- 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY    267 

ness,  invalidity,  or  accident  is  partly  managed  by 
the  city.  The  city  also  offers  him  many  means  of 
recreation.  He  bathes  in  the  municipal  bath-houses 
along  the  river  or  in  the  splendid  public  baths  about 
the  town.  In  the  evenings  he  goes  to  the  Tonhalle, 
to  the  palm  gardens,  or  to  the  exposition  hall,  where 
he  hears  the  best  of  music  for  an  insignificant  sum. 
He  spends  his  Sundays  and  holidays  in  the  zoological 
gardens  or  tramps  with  his  family  through  the  great 
woods  about  the  city.  The  parks  and  water-ways 
offer  clean,  healthful  amusement  at  no  cost  at  all  or 
at  a  small  charge.  Art  galleries  and  museums,  streets 
and  palaces,  opera-houses  and  theatres  all  reheve  the 
tedium  of  life  of  rich  and  poor,  and  all  are  supplied 
by  the  community  itself.  Germany  realizes  that  the 
leisure  time  of  the  people  must  be  provided  for  and 
cannot  with  safety  be  left  wholly  to  private  hands. 

There  is  a  necessary  psychological  reaction  from 
this  policy,  a  reaction  on  all  classes.  The  attitude 
of  the  citizen  is  largely  traceable  to  the  attitude  of 
the  city  toward  the  citizen.  The  city  is  the  most 
important  thing  in  his  life.  It  touches  him  in  count- 
less ways.  Life  is  a  social  rather  than  an  individ- 
ualistic thing.  Men  come  to  think  in  community 
terms,  for  their  life  is  circumscribed  by  community 
agencies.  Every  activity  is  related  to  something  the 
city  does;  every  desire  is  in  some  way  influenced  by 
the  city's  services.  The  hausfrau  thinks  in  terms 
of  the  city  that  guards  her  children,  that  ministers 


268  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

to  their  health  and  happiness.  Her  recreations  and 
her  market-baskets  are  suppHed  by  it.  The  city 
is  so  important  it  cannot  be  neglected;  it  cannot  be 
ignored. 

This,  too,  explains  why  men  are  wiUing  to  enter 
the  city  comicil ;  it  explains  why  they  aspire  to  make 
administration  a  profession.  It  explains,  too,  the 
expert  who  has  become  a  necessity.  Business  men 
are  eager  to  serve  on  a  board  of  directors  which  deals 
with  millions.  They  desire  to  be  identified  with  the 
biggest  thing  in  the  commmiity.  There  is  honor  in 
being  part  of  an  enterprise  of  such  proportions  and 
with  such  possibilities  of  service,  and  just  as  men  in 
this  country  seek  places  on  the  board  of  directors  of 
a  bank  or  a  street  railway,  in  Germany  and  Great 
Britain  the  alluring  posts  are  in  public  administra- 
tion. The  council  is  the  most  important  directorate 
in  the  city,  while  the  magistrat  is  an  executive  com- 
mittee far  more  alluring  than  that  of  a  transconti- 
nental railroad. 

In  addition,  pubHc  ownership  of  the  pubHc  service 
corporations  puts  an  end  to  the  conflict  between  pub- 
lic and  private  interest.  Business  and  professional 
men  can  enter  the  council,  for  there  are  no  fran- 
chises worth  millions  owned  by  themselves  or  their 
friends  to  be  protected.  There  are  no  special  privi- 
leges which  ramify  into  the  banks  and  trust  compa- 
nies, the  press  and  the  clubs,  into  all  the  professional 
classes,  as  do  the  privileges  of  the  street  railways, 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  GERMAN  CITY    269 

gas,  water,  and  electric-lighting  companies  in  this 
country.  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  the  city  coun- 
cil in  America  would  command  the  best  talent  of 
the  city^were  our  politics  free  from  the  conflict  of 
interest  which  makes  the  men  of  wealth  and  power 
fear  better  government.  For  our  business  men  ac- 
cept place  on  Hbrary  and  education  boards,  on  the 
boards  of  trustees  of  hospitals,  chambers  of  commerce, 
and  other  public  and  semi-public  agencies,  where 
there  is  no  conflict  between  their  patriotism  and  their 
purse.  But  such  men  dare  not  accept  nomination 
to  the  city  council.  Nor  would  the  voter  trust  them. 
The  private  ownership  of  pubHc  service  corporations 
has  created  a  condition  that  divorces  the  talent  of 
the  community  from  poHtics.  Philadelphia,  Cincin- 
nati, San  Francisco,  Denver,  Cleveland,  Detroit,  To- 
ledo, all  tell  the  same  story  of  the  class  conflict  which 
was  precipitated  by  the  attempt  of  the  city  to  regu- 
late these  interests  or  even  secure  proper  Hmitations 
on  the  renewal  of  a  franchise.  The  business  and  pro- 
fessional classes  were  arrayed  against  the  city  in  its 
efforts.  So  were  the  banks  and  the  press.  The  city 
was  deprived  of  its  talented  men  at  a  time  when  they 
were  most  needed.  The  class  which  owned,  and  the 
class  identified  with  the  class  which  owned,  do  not 
dare  enter  municipal  politics  because  of  this  con- 
flict, a  conflict  which  does  not  exist  in  either  the 
German  or  the  British  city. 
Home  rule  has  enabled  the  German  city  to  build 


270  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

as  it  willed.  This  has  given  variety  to  the  city.  It 
has  awakened  local  love.  The  traditions  of  German 
life,  the  long,  uninterrupted  history  of  the  city,  its 
traditions  of  beauty  and  order,  the  universal  efficiency 
of  the  empire — these,  with  the  big-visioned  services 
which  the  city  renders,  explain  its  honesty,  its  effi- 
ciency, its  eminent  success.  And  it  is  the  absence 
of  these  elements,  rather  than  the  inherent  dishon- 
esty or  incapacity  for  self-government  of  our  own 
people,  that  explains  our  failures.  For  we  have 
created  a  condition  that  makes  honesty  and  effi- 
ciency almost  impossible. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
IMPRESSIONS  OF  THE  BRITISH  CITY 

If  you  come  in  contact  with  the  mind  of  the  man 
behind  the  ballot  in  the  British  city,  you  meet  a  very 
different  mind  from  that  of  the  man  behind  the  bal- 
lot in  the  German  city.  It  is  a  very  different  mind 
from  that  of  the  man  behind  the  ballot  in  America. 
And  it  is  the  mind  of  the  man  behind  the  ballot  in 
eveiy  country  that  makes  the  city  what  it  is. 

I  first  came  in  contact  with  the  men  who  rule  the 
British  city  in  a  social  club  in  Glasgow,  in  many  ways 
the  most  aggressively  efficient  city  in  Great  Britain. 
I  lunched  with  a  group  of  merchants,  shippers,  law- 
yers, and  business  men.  It  was  such  a  group  as  one 
would  meet  in  a  club  in  any  large  American  city. 
All  of  the  men  enjoyed  local  eminence.  And  each  of 
them,  I  afterward  learned,  was  connected  with  the 
government  of  Glasgow,  or  of  one  of  the  surrounding 
communities.  And  for  several  hours  these  Scotch 
business  men  talked  city  politics  in  a  language  with 
which  I  was  not  familiar. 

The  previous  day  had  been  an  annual  clearing- 
house day  in  the  council.  Several  committees  had 
given  an  accounting  of  their  work.    They  had  sub- 

271 


272  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

mitted  a  statement  of  earnings  and  expenditures,  of 
assets  and  liabilities.  And  these  business  men  were 
talking  of  their  community's  balance-sheet.  They 
discussed  the  municipal  tramways,  the  earnings  for 
the  last  year,  the  surplus  carried  to  depreciation  and 
reserve,  and  the  contributions  to  be  used  for  city  pur- 
poses. There  was  an  obvious  pride  in  the  fine  show- 
ing of  the  committees,  a  pride  in  the  rapid  debt  re- 
duction and  the  efficiency  of  the  lines. 

The  followdng  day  I  read  the  report  of  the  tram- 
way committee,  and  it  justified  the  pride  of  these 
business  men  as  did  the  gas,  electric-light,  and  water 
committee  reports  which  had  been  made  the  same 
day.  I  accompanied  the  lord  provost  and  mem- 
bers of  the  council  on  a  tour  of  inspection  of  the 
many  activities  of  the  city.  It  was  an  annual  survey 
of  the  city  at  work.  We  drove  to  the  municipal 
lodging-house  designed  to  afford  a  home  for  widows 
and  widowers  with  children.  It  is  provided  with 
kindergartens  and  creches  in  which  the  young  chil- 
dren are  left  when  the  parent  goes  out  to  work.  We 
visited  the  slum-clearance  enterprise  and  municipal 
dwellings  erected  on  the  site  of  one  of  the  most  dis- 
ease-breeding spots  in  Great  Britain.  For  the  tene- 
ments of  Glasgow  are  terrible.  The  wretchedness  of 
the  poor  is  only  surpassed  by  the  east-end  WTiite- 
chapel  districts  of  London.  It  is  stated  that  50.6 
per  cent,  of  the  population  of  all  Scotland  lives  in 
two-room  cottages,  or  apartments,  and  conditions  in 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  THE  BRITISH  CITY    273 

the  towns  are,  of  course,  much  worse.  We  visited  the 
central  fire-department  station  and  saw  the  firemen 
at  work  in  the  shops  building  and  repairing  fire  en- 
gines, wagons,  and  equipment.  For  the  firemen  of 
Glasgow  are  artisans  as  well.  They  perform  a  double 
duty.  During  their  leisure  hours  they  build  and 
maintain  the  fire  apparatus  for  the  city.  We  passed 
numerous  bowling  greens  as  smooth  as  a  billiard 
table,  where  workingmen  spend  the  long  summer 
evenings  at  the  favorite  Scotch  play  of  bowls.  The 
inspection  closed  with  a  banquet  at  the  city  hall  at 
which  the  chairmen  of  the  various  committees  dis- 
cussed the  achievements  of  their  departments  during 
the  past  year  and  their  hopes  for  the  future.  There 
was  no  suggestion  of  partisan  politics,  no  talk  of 
personal  advantages  or  spoils.  There  was  something 
akin  to  religious  enthusiasm  for  Glasgow. 

I  met  the  same  municipal  mind  in  the  restaurants, 
about  the  hotels,  on  top  of  the  double-decker  tram- 
cars.  Almost  always  the  talk  drifted  around  to  the 
council,  to  Glasgow,  to  the  tramways,  gas  and  elec- 
tric undertakings,  to  the  art  galleiy,  the  parks,  pub- 
lic lectures,  or  the  playgrounds.  I  fomid  even  the 
workingmen  knew  about  the  budget;  they  were  fa- 
miliar with  the  life  of  the  lord  provost  as  well  as  the 
personal  characteristics  of  councilmen.  They  knew 
how  much  was  spent  on  wines  and  luncheons  by  a 
committee,  and  there  was  some  protest  against  the 
wine  bill,  which  is  one  of  the  little  extravagances 


274  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

that  arouse  much  talk  at  elections  and  in  the  radical 
press. 

And  always  and  everywhere  the  talk  turned  to  the 
rates  (taxes).  They  were  too  high,  all  agreed.  Every 
voter  is  a  taxpayer,  and  he  pays  his  taxes  directly 
as  a  tenant.  He  knew  to  a  penny  what  the  city  cost 
him.  For  local  taxes  in  Great  Britain  are  paid  by 
the  tenant  rather  than  by  the  owner. 

The  population  of  Glasgow  is  1,150,000.  The  city 
is  terribly  congested.  Attempts  have  been  made  to 
distribute  population  out  into  the  countryside  by  the 
building  of  new  municipal  tram  lines  which  were  oper- 
ated at  a  loss.  Immediately  suburban  land-owners 
increased  the  price  of  their  holdings,  so  that  it  was 
impossible  for  the  poorer  classes  to  take  advantage 
of  the  transportation  facilities  constructed  for  their 
reHef .  This  aroused  the  municipal  authorities  to  the 
necessity  of  controlling  the  land  speculator.  If  evciy 
effort  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  people  only  re- 
sulted in  an  increase  in  the  value  of  land,  there  was 
no  way  out  of  the  housing  problem.  This  led  to  the 
organization  of  a  movement  for  the  taxation  of  land 
values  to  check  speculation.  The  council  made  an 
appropriation  of  $15,000  to  promote  bills  in  Parlia- 
ment to  permit  cities  to  tax  land  values  for  local 
purposes.  More  than  500  communities  were  organ- 
ized into  a  league  to  further  the  measure,  for  other 
cities  had  been  thwarted  in  their  efforts  to  improve 
housing  conditions  by  the  same  causes.    For  years 


J 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  THE  BRITISH  CITY    275 

the  league  has  besieged  Parhament  to  permit  cities 
to  levy  taxes  on  the  capital  value  of  land  by  the  same 
methods  employed  in  America,  but  thus  far  the  land- 
owners in  Parliament  have  prevented  any  legislation 
on  the  subject. 

Glasgow  is  radical.  Yet  the  council  of  Glasgow  is 
made  up  of  business  men,  many  of  them  eminent 
business  men.  There  is  a  sprinkling  of  Socialists  in 
the  council  who  are  constantly  in  controversy  with 
the  conservative  members  over  the  management  of 
municipal  undertakings.  These  labor  members,  like 
the  business  men,  give  generously  of  their  time  to 
the  city,  and  with  no  other  remuneration  than  the 
satisfaction  which  comes  from  the  service. 

And  the  men  in  the  council  reflect  the  point  of 
view  of  the  men  in  the  club,  in  the  restaurant,  on 
the  street.  I  doubt  if  any  elective  bodies  in  the 
world  more  accurately  mirror  the  opinions  of  those 
whom  they  represent  than  do  the  councilmen  of 
British  cities.  They  are  a  cross-section  of  their  con- 
stituents. They  have  to  be.  If  they  depart  from 
the  Scotch  standards  of  thrift  in  their  opinions  or 
votes  they  are  sure  to  be  challenged  at  the  next 
election,  when  they  will  be  heckled  on  the  platform 
by  their  neighbors  and  opponents.  For  heckling  is 
a  fine  art  in  Glasgow.  Through  it  new  ideas  are  pro- 
moted, and  candidates  for  municipal  and  parliamen- 
tary office  are  pledged  to  definite  issues.  The  taxa- 
tion of  land  values  was  promoted  by  these  means,  as 


276  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

was  municipal  ownership.  And  any  proposal  which 
increases  the  burden  of  local  taxation  is  sure  to  arouse 
opposition  and  frequently  to  invite  defeat.  Some 
years  ago  one  of  Glasgow's  most  eminent  business 
men,  Sir  Samuel  Chisholm,  who  had  been  identified 
with  the  city  administration  for  years,  was  defeated 
for  re-election  because  of  his  advocacy  of  a  badly 
needed  health  and  slum  clearance  project.  It  in- 
volved an  increase  in  taxation  for  which  his  constit- 
uents were  not  ready  to  stand  in  spite  of  the  eminent 
services  he  had  rendered  to  the  community.  In  addi- 
tion he  was  an  outspoken  advocate  of  temperance 
reform.  This,  too,  contributed  to  his  defeat.  But 
nothing,  miless  it  be  dishonesty,  is  more  hazardous 
to  a  municipal  career  than  a  proposal  which  prom- 
ises to  increase  the  burden  of  local  taxes.  This  is 
the  nerve  centre  of  every  British  citizen. 

In  Liverpool,  Manchester,  Birmingham,  Sheffield, 
Leeds,  people  talked  about  the  same  things.  They 
seemed  to  understand  municipal  politics  and  issues. 
And  always  the  rates  and  taxes,  municipal  owner- 
ship, the  taxation  of  land  values,  or  some  other  eco- 
nomic question  entered  into  the  controversy.  No- 
where was  there  a  suggestion  of  dishonesty.  Every- 
where there  was  an  alert  citizenship  that  looked  upon 
the  council  chamber  as  of  far  more  interest  than 
Westminster.  Everywhere  men  seemed  to  feel  it 
was  a  high  honor  to  serve  in  the  council,  an  honor  to 
which  business  men  very  generally  aspired. 


I 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  THE  BRITISH  CITY    277 

I  attended  a  banquet  of  municipal  officials  in  Man- 
chester and  sat  next  to  the  chairman  of  the  water 
committee.  He  had  been  on  the  council  for  thirty 
years  and  had  just  been  knighted  by  the  King  in 
recognition  of  his  services.  Great  Britain  does  not 
pay  her  elective  city  officials;  she  holds  out  what  is 
far  more  desired  by  them  than  money,  and  that  is 
knighthood  or  a  baronetcy  for  distinguished  action. 
This  is  the  goal  of  the  business  man  who  has  made 
his  leisure  secure.  For  this  he  will  serve  for  a  life- 
time. For  it  he  gives  generously  to  his  political 
party,  to  charity,  or  to  some  public  cause. 

Sir  Bosdin  Leech  seemed  far  prouder  of  the  chair- 
manship of  the  water  committee  than  he  did  of  his 
business  success.  He  had  seen  the  department  de- 
velop, had  watched  its  earnings  grow,  and  its  finan- 
cial stability  become  assured.  He  was  prouder  of 
his  work  for  the  water  supply  of  his  city  than  a  rail- 
way president,  and  talked  about  it  with  the  enthu- 
siasm of  a  parent  for  his  child. 

Asked  by  an  American  guest  as  to  how  it  was  pos- 
sible for  busy  men  to  give  so  generously  of  their  time, 
he  replied  that  he  did  not  know  what  inspired  it, 
but  "he  could  assure  the  inquirer  that  no  man  who 
entered  the  city  council  ever  made  a  penny  out  of  it. 
If  any  man  were  found  using  the  corporation  as  a 
vehicle  for  his  own  enrichment  he  would  be  drummed 
out  of  the  city." 

I  visited  the  Manchester  ship  canal  in  company 


278  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

wath  municipal  officials.  It  is  partly  a  public,  partly 
a  private  undertaking,  the  city  having  subscribed  for  a 
large  part  of  the  securities.  Manchester  is  an  inland 
town  lying  35  miles  to  the  east  of  Liverpool.  It 
suffered  from  discriminatory  freight  rates  on  the  rail- 
ways and  was  at  a  disadvantage  in  competition  with 
the  seaboard  towns.  The  canal  is  35  miles  in  length 
and  has  cost  more  than  $75,000,000.  It  was  eleven 
years  between  the  passage  of  a  bill  in  Parliament  in 
1883  and  the  opening  of  the  canal  for  traffic  in  1894. 
Deep  cuts  had  to  be  made,  some  of  them  for  miles 
through  rock  from  50  to  60  feet  in  depth.  There  is 
a  difference  of  level  of  over  60  feet  in  the  35  miles  of 
canal-way.  Five  huge  locks  capable  of  accommo- 
dating great  ocean  steamers  had  to  be  constructed, 
while  the  Bridgewater  Canal  is  carried  over  the  ship 
canal  far  above  grade,  the  section  which  crosses  the 
ship  canal  being  so  arranged  that  it  can  be  swung 
completely  around  to  permit  the  passage  of  ships 
while  filled  with  water.  The  harbor  itself  is  of  im- 
mense proportions,  and  is  surrounded  with  ware- 
houses, grain  elevators,  sheds,  and  railway  tracks 
connected  with  hydraulic  and  electrical  cranes  for 
the  transshipment  of  freight.  The  canal  company 
controls  the  railway  sidings  and  performs  a  lighterage 
business  in  order  that  costs  may  be  kept  at  a  mini- 
mum and  the  harbor  be  operated  as  a  unit.  The 
harbor  water-ways  cover  104  acres  and  the  quays 
152  acres.    There  are  five  and  a  half  miles  of  dock 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  THE  BRITISH  CITY    279 

frontage  in  all.  For  years  the  canal  failed  to  meet 
interest  charges  on  its  obligations,  but  recently  it  has 
begun  to  pay.  It  saved  Manchester  from  decline 
and  made  it  one  of  the  great  ports  of  the  world.  It 
is  a  monument  to  courageous  municipal  spirit. 

The  chairman  of  the  Manchester  tramways  com- 
mittee, who  spoke  at  the  banquet,  talked  of  the  mu- 
nicipal street  railways  as  though  they  were  the  most 
important  thing  in  England.  He  was  proud  of  the 
cars,  which  are  models  of  beauty  and  comfort.  They 
are  as  clean  as  they  can  be  kept  and  are  almost 
noiseless  in  operation.  There  was  no  sign  of  over- 
crowding even  during  rush  hours.  Manchester 
thinks  too  highly  of  its  people,  of  its  factory  women 
and  girls,  of  its  clerks  and  workingmen  to  permit 
them  to  be  herded  into  inadequate  cars  for  the  sake 
of  profits.  There  are  no  strap-hangers.  The  trans- 
portation system  is  designed  to  serve  the  people  the 
same  as  the  schools  and  parks.  They  are  the  best 
that  the  ingenuity  of  the  council  and  the  tramway 
manager  can  devise. 

There  is  no  deficit  to  be  made  up  at  the  end  of  the 
year  by  reason  of  this ' '  seat  for  a  fare ' '  poHcy .  Man- 
chester has  done  what  the  private  street  railways  in 
America  say  cannot  possibly  be  done,  and  has  done  it 
as  a  matter  of  course.  In  1911  the  tramways  paid 
all  operating  expenses,  interest  on  the  investment, 
sinking-fund  charges,  and  even  taxes,  and  in  addi- 
tion turned  over  to  the  city  treasury  the  sum  of 


280  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

$375,000  with  which  to  reduce  taxes.  This  was  in  a 
city  of  900,000  people  and  with  an  average  rate  of 
fare  of  a  trifle  over  two  cents.  In  addition,  there 
was  a  saving  of  several  millions  of  doUars  a  year  in 
car  fares  to  passengers  as  compared  w^th  what  would 
have  been  collected  by  a  private  company  in 
America. 

Manchester  sells  gas  from  its  own  works  for  forty- 
eight  cents  a  cubic  foot.  The  price  is  even  lower  for 
fuel  purposes.  The  city  encourages  the  use  of  gas 
among  the  poor  by  the  introduction  of  penny-in-the- 
slot  machines  attached  to  the  meters.  It  lights  its 
alleys  and  slums  generously  as  a  means  of  checking 
\nce  and  crime.  It  is  a  common  sajang  in  England 
that  a  lamp-post  is  as  good  as  a  policeman. 

Even  at  the  rates  charged,  the  gas  plant  earned 
$325,000  for  the  reduction  of  taxes  after  meeting  all 
operating  and  fixed  charges.  And  the  chairman  of 
the  gas  committee  seemed  to  reflect  the  attitude  of 
the  officials  of  the  city  when  he  said  that  "public 
men  in  England  had  been  taught  from  the  cradle  to 
do  their  utmost  to  promote  the  happiness  and  welfare 
of  their  fellow-citizens.  It  was  a  more  serviceable 
honor,"  he  said,  "to  be  a  member  of  a  city  council 
than  of  ParHament." 

There  is  a  dignity  about  a  title  or  an  office  in  Eng- 
land, even  though  it  be  an  obscure  one,  that  does  not 
prevail  in  this  country.  The  sons  of  the  aristocracy 
serve  in  the  army,  the  church,  or  the  state.    Success- 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  THE  BRITISH  CITY    281 

ful  barristers  aspire  to  Parliament.  Members  of  the 
county  families  serve  as  magistrates  in  the  county 
courts,  while  in  the  cities  the  tradesmen  seek  place 
on  the  council  as  an  avenue  for  the  expression  of  the 
same  spirit  of  public  service.  There  is  a  passion  for 
public  place  in  England  among  the  highest  and  the 
lowest. 

Mr.  Joseph  Chamberlain  began  his  remarkable 
career,  which  led  him  almost  to  the  premiership  of 
the  empire,  as  a  member  of  the  town  council  of  Bir- 
mingham. He  was  a  wealthy  manufacturer,  and  for 
many  years  was  connected  with  the  council,  and 
later  was  mayor  of  the  town.  He  is  almost  the  only 
British  mayor  who  achieved  distinction  as  a  positive 
force  in  municipal  affairs,  for  usually  the  British 
mayor  is  but  the  presiding  officer  of  the  council,  en- 
joying for  a  brief  term  the  honor  of  being  the  first 
citizen  of  the  community.  Rarely  does  he  actively 
engage  in  the  promotion  of  a  programme  or  in  the 
carrying  forward  of  a  policy. 

Birmingham  was  redeemed  from  the  almost  uni- 
versal ugliness  of  the  British  city  by  a  great  slum 
clearance  and  rebuilding  scheme  which  Mr.  Cham- 
berlain promoted  during  his  incumbency  as  mayor. 
In  the  heart  of  the  city  was  a  blighted  area,  the 
centre  of  disease  and  vice.  In  1875  the  city  ac- 
quired forty-five  acres  of  slum  land  which  included 
this  area.  One-fourth  of  the  land  so  acquired  was 
opened  up  as  business  streets,  of  which  Corporation 


282  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

Street  is  the  most  commanding.  The  remainder  of 
the  land  was  laid  out  in  building  sites,  which  were 
leased  for  long  terms  with  provision  for  the  periodical 
reappraisal  of  the  rental  value. 

The  municipality  became  a  landlord  on  its  own 
account,  and  is  now  reaping  dividends  on  its  invest- 
ment. For  the  improvement  has  paid  for  itself  in 
several  ways.  The  total  taxes  collected  from  the 
slum  area  in  1875  were  but  $52,563.  In  1909  the 
taxes  on  the  same  property  increased  to  $220,443, 
or  a  gain  of  $167,880  a  year,  or  300  per  cent.  The 
carrying  charges  for  interest  and  sinking-fund  amount 
to  $111,929  a  year,  or  only  two-thirds  of  the  increase 
in  taxes  alone.  Within  a  few  years'  time  the  annual 
debt  charges  on  the  improvement  will  be  reduced  to 
$97,330,  and  will  ultimately  disappear  altogether, 
when  the  sinking-fund  accumulations  have  repaid 
the  loan. 

But  this  was  not  the  only  financial  gain.  The  land 
has  greatly  increased  in  value,  and  when  the  present 
leases  expire  the  land,  together  with  all  the  improve- 
ments, will  revert  to  the  city  without  cost.  When 
this  occurs,  the  revenues  from  the  undertaking  will 
amount  to  $485,650  a  year.  All  this  is  in  addition  to 
the  saving  in  health,  as  well  as  the  great  improve- 
ment in  the  appearance  of  the  city,  which  has  been 
transformed  by  the  splendid  streets  and  the  rebuild- 
ing of  the  business  district. 

The  British  city  is  honestly  administered.    Of  that 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  THE  BRITISH  CITY    283 

there  is  no  question.  Public  opinion  does  not  toler- 
ate the  placing  of  friend  or  political  supporter  in  pub- 
lic office  as  a  reward  for  political  service.  There  are 
no  spoils  and  no  suggestion  of  graft. 

There  is,  however,  something  very  like  graft  that 
goes  almost  unchallenged  in  the  British  city.  It  is 
the  influence  of  privileged  classes  in  the  council.  I 
once  heard  the  question  of  municipal  honesty  raised 
by  an  American  visitor  at  Liverpool  in  conference 
with  a  group  of  city  officials.  The  American  asked : 
"  Is  there  no  graft  in  connection  with  municipal  own- 
ership, no  corruption  incident  to  the  many  under- 
takings which  the  city  carries  on?" 

"No,  there  is  no  corruption  in  the  British  city," 
the  official  replied,  "it  does  not  exist.  Liverpool  is 
honestly  administered  in  the  interests  of  the  people." 

"  But,"  the  inquirer  continued :  "  are  there  no  busi- 
ness interests,  no  land  speculators,  no  privileged 
classes,  that  in  some  indirect  way  control  the  council 
or  influence  its  actions?  Is  the  British  city  free  from 
this  sort  of  influence  also?" 

An  elderly  alderman  who  had  taken  no  part  in  the 
conversation  interposed  and  said:  "Liverpool  owns 
the  street  railway,  the  electric-lighting  and  water 
plants.  It  does  not  own  the  gas  plant,  although 
proposals  have  been  made  to  buy  it.  There  has  been 
some  complaint  that  too  many  stockholders  of  the 
gas  company  find  their  way  into  the  council,  and 
are  active  in  the  protection  of  their  private  interests. 


284  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

If  that  is  what  you  mean  by  indirect  influence,  there 
has  been  some  of  it  in  Liverpool." 

I  heard  this  complaint  in  a  number  of  cities  that 
do  not  own  the  gas  or  electric-lighting  plants.  The 
companies  send  their  directors  or  stockholders  to 
the  council,  where  they  use  their  influence  to  pre- 
vent the  purchase  of  the  plant  or  to  secure  Uberal 
valuations  when  it  is  acquired  by  the  city.  Where 
private  ownership  prevails,  companies  are  active  in 
politics,  as  they  are  with  us,  but  in  a  less  aggressive 
way.  There  is  no  criminal  wrong-doing.  And  the 
Enghsh  people,  with  their  veneration  for  men  who 
have  achieved  distinction,  find  it  difficult  to  suspect 
a  prominent  citizen  of  wrong-doing  in  such  a  matter. 
His  advice  is  assumed  to  be  only  the  wisdom  of 
greater  experience. 

Liverpool,  like  most  British  cities,  is  badly  con- 
gested. The  tenement  districts  are  old,  unsanitary, 
and  involve  a  fearful  cost  in  disease  and  death.  But 
the  city  boldly  undertook  a  number  of  slum-clear- 
ance projects  at  a  total  cost  of  82,000,000.  It  tore 
down  great  areas  of  tenement  land;  the  streets  were 
widened,  and  2,000  individual  cottages  erected  to 
take  the  place  of  those  destroyed. 

Citizens  vie  with  officials  in  Liverpool  in  claim- 
ing that  their  tram  ways  are  the  most  up-to-date  in 
Great  Britain.  ^^Tlatever  merit  there  may  be  in  the 
claim — a  common  one,  by  the  way,  heard  all  over 
Great  Britain — the  tram  ways  are  wonderfully  effi- 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  THE  BRITISH  CITY    285 

cient  and  comfortable,  and  are  an  ornament  to  the 
streets.  The  cars  are  fresh  with  paint,  the  employees 
are  courteous,  and  the  public  is  proud  of  the  financial 
balance-sheet.  There  is  no  overcrowding  at  any  time 
during  the  day.  A  great  workshop  is  operated  by 
the  city  where  cars,  motors,  and  machinery  are  both 
built  and  repaired.  There  is  a  spirit  of  enthusiastic 
rivaliy  to  make  the  service  the  best  that  can  be 
offered.  Municipal  ownership,  far  from  deadening 
initiative,  seems  to  have  given  it  the  fullest  oppor- 
tunity to  express  itself.  This  is  true  all  over  Eng- 
land, as  it  is  in  Germany. 

The  manager  of  the  tram  ways  invented  a  plough 
life-guard  which  has  been  copied  by  other  municipal 
tram  ways.  It  consists  of  a  diamond-shaped  guard 
made  of  lumber  which  runs  so  close  to  the  tracks  that 
any  one  thrown  down  is  pushed  off  to  the  side  by  the 
fender.  He  cannot  get  under  the  wheels.  In  conse- 
quence, fatal  accidents  are  reduced  to  the  vanishing- 
point.  Experiments  were  also  made  by  the  city  with 
cars  of  every  variety  to  find  the  one  that  was  most 
popular,  that  would  provide  the  most  seats,  and  carry 
the  greatest  number  of  passengers  with  the  maximum 
comfort  and  the  minimum  cost.  The  trams  com- 
mittee purchased  cars  in  America,  Germany,  and 
Belgium,  and  tried  them  out  exhaustively  to  ascer- 
tain the  type  of  car  most  wanted  by  the  community. 
Finally,  the  double-decker  type  was  adopted.  It  has 
so  many  advantages  one  finds  it  difficult  to  under- 


286  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

stand  why  it  is  not  introduced  in  America.  The  en- 
closed stairs  have  been  found  to  be  perfectly  safe. 
The  upper  decks  of  the  cars  can  be  used  in  any  kind 
of  weather.  In  addition,  statistical  studies  show 
that  these  cars  can  be  loaded  and  unloaded  as 
quickly  as  the  single-deck  cars  universally  used  in 
this  country,  while  double  the  number  of  passengers 
are  comfortably  carried.  In  addition,  they  are  so 
pleasant  that  they  greatly  stimulate  traffic. 

Many  other  improvements  have  been  worked  out 
in  Liverpool  which,  so  far  as  the  public  is  concerned, 
are  far  in  advance  of  the  private  lines  in  America. 
The  cars  are  cleaned  every  night,  as  are  the  trucks. 
The  signs  upon  the  cars  give  the  routes  and  destina- 
tion in  detail.  Stopping-places  are  marked  by  con- 
spicuous signs.  On  the  narrow  streets  the  span-wires 
are  carried  from  rosettes  on  the  buildings,  rather 
than  from  poles.  Employees  are  picked  after  the 
most  careful  examination;  they  prize  their  jobs, 
and  are  courteous  and  considerate  to  passengers. 
There  are  no  strap-hangers  at  any  time,  for  the 
double-decker  car  offers  more  than  twice  as  many 
seats  as  the  average  American  single-deck  car. 

Across  the  river  Mersey,  from  Liverpool,  lies  the 
village  of  Port  Sunlight,  one  of  the  first  garden-cities 
of  Great  Britain.  It  is  a  proprietary  village  of  the 
Lever  Brothers,  soap  manufacturers.  The  garden 
suburb  is  the  most-talked-of  municipal  topic  in  Great 
Britain,  and  along  with  town  planning  has  appropri- 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  THE  BRITISH  CITY    287 

ated  the  municipal  thought  of  the  nation.  It  seems 
to  mark  an  era  in  the  whole  city  movement,  and  to 
offer  a  solution  of  the  housing  problem.  In  1898  a 
book  appeared  entitled  "Garden  Cities  of  To-mor- 
row/' written  by  Ebenezer  Howard,  which  proposed 
the  building  of  model  villages  on  cheap  land,  planned 
in  detail  in  advance  of  their  building.  Several  years 
passed  before  the  book  was  taken  seriously,  but  dur- 
ing the  last  few  years  thirty  or  forty  suburbs  or 
independent  communities  have  been  erected  along 
the  line  laid  down  by  the  author;  while  the  idea  has 
been  enthusiastically  adopted  by  housing  reformers 
in  Germany,  France,  and  the  Continent  generally. 

Port  Sunlight  was  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  self- 
contained  garden-villages.  It  differs  from  Letch- 
worth,  Hampstead,  and  most  of  the  subsequent  un- 
dertakings in  being  a  proprietary  village,  much  as  is 
Gary,  Indiana,  built  by  the  steel  trust.  Fifty-six 
acres  of  land  were  first  purchased,  about  five  miles 
from  the  centre  of  Birkenhead,  of  which  32  acres 
were  set  aside  for  village  uses  and  24  acres  for  the 
factories.  The  original  area  has  since  been  increased, 
until  it  now  includes  230  acres,  of  which  90  are  occu- 
pied by  the  works,  and  140  by  the  village  proper. 

The  planning  of  the  village  was  placed  in  the  hands 
of  an  expert.  The  roadways  are  curved  and  skirt 
the  ravines,  which  were  dedicated  to  park  purposes. 
The  village  now  contains  about  three  thousand  peo- 
ple, all  of  whom  are  housed  in  detached  or  semi- 


288  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

detached  cottages  erected  by  the  company.  There  is 
great  diversity  of  style,  but  perfect  harmony  in  the 
whole.  Almost  every  village  need  has  been  provided 
for.  There  are  a  church,  a  wonderful  art-gallery,  and 
a  library.  There  are  a  gymnasium  and  club-houses, 
with  an  auditorium,  swimming  and  other  baths, 
tennis  and  cricket  fields,  and  opportunities  for  out- 
of-door  sports.  In  all  of  the  garden-villages  the 
greatest  thought  has  been  given  to  the  leisure  Hfe  of 
the  people,  and  the  most  generous  provision  has  been 
made  for  play  spaces,  in  winter  as  well  as  in  sum- 
mer, for  adults  as  well  as  for  children. 

The  cottages  are  surrounded  with  hedges,  and  the 
front  gardens  are  kept  up  by  the  company  itself, 
which  makes  a  charge  of  six  cents  a  week  for  the 
care  of  each  cottage  garden.  The  roadways  are 
bordered  with  parkage,  trees,  and  gardens,  as  are  the 
open  spaces. 

From  a  financial  point  of  view  the  rents  do  not 
maintain  the  village,  partly  because  of  the  large  out- 
lay in  the  building  and  maintenance  of  the  conomu- 
nity  institutions,  such  as  the  institute  college,  gym- 
nasiums, baths,  and  so  forth.  The  total  investment 
approximates  $2,500,000,  upon  which  the  company 
receives  no  interest,  the  rents  being  only  sufficient 
to  maintain  the  cottages  and  keep  them  in  repair. 
The  loss  of  interest  to  the  company  is  about  $170,- 
000,  which  the  company  treats  as  a  contribution  to 
efficiency.    The  owners  claim  that  the  improved 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  THE  BRITISH  CITY    289 

health  of  the  employees,  due  to  better  homes  and 
open-air  Hfe,  yields  a  return  in  the  increased  out- 
put of  the  factories  that  reimburses  it  for  the  loss  on 
the  investment.  In  this  respect  Port  Sunlight  dif- 
fers from  the  other  garden-cities,  like  Hampstead 
and  Letchworth,  which  are  organized  on  a  com- 
mercial basis  and  yield  a  return  on  the  investment, 
the  same  as  any  other  commercial  enterprise. 

Sir  William  H.  Lever,  one  of  the  proprietors,  insists, 
as  a  matter  of  principle,  "that  every  diligent  em- 
ployee has  a  moral  and  indisputable  right  to  live  in 
a  decent  home,  to  possess  the  opportunity  to  bring 
up  his  children  in  decent  environments,  to  enjoy  the 
best  possible  facilities  for  the  development  of  his  own, 
his  wife's,  and  children's  faculties,  so  as  to  make 
them  healthy  and  strong  and  long-lived.  Business, 
he  says,  cannot  be  carried  on  by  physically  deficient 
employees,  any  more  than  war  can  be  successfully 
waged  by  physically  deficient  soldiers.  Business 
efficiency  therefore  demands  better  housing  condi- 
tions for  employees,  apart  from  the  principle  of  the 
employees'  own  unquestionable  right  to  the  same." 

The  houses  at  Port  Sunlight  are  in  striking  con- 
trast to  the  slum  districts  of  the  near-by  cities  of 
Liverpool  and  Birkenhead.  And  the  improvement 
in  the  appearance  of  the  working-people  and  the 
children  on  the  streets  is  a  demonstration  of  the 
terrible  cost  of  bad  housing  to  the  life  and  morals 
of  a  people.     Careful  statistical  investigation  showed 


290  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

that  the  height  of  Port  Sunhght  school-children  at 
fourteen  years  of  age  was  62.2  inches,  while  those 
in  the  public  schools  of  Liverpool  ranged  from  55.2 
inches  to  61.7  inches.  The  weight  of  the  same  chil- 
dren in  Port  Sunlight  was  108  pounds,  as  compared 
with  71.1  to  94.5  pounds  in  the  pubHc  schools  of  the 
near-by  cities.  The  statistics  of  the  death-rate  are 
quite  as  eloquent.  In  the  average  industrial  cities 
in  England  it  ranges  from  14  to  19  per  thousand, 
while  in  Port  Sunlight  it  ranged  during  seven  years 
from  5.55  to  12.87  per  thousand. 

The  garden-city  is  England's  greatest  contribution 
to  the  housing  problem.  After  a  generation  of  fruit- 
less effort  to  relieve  urban  congestion  by  regulation 
and  the  construction  of  municipal  tenements,  the 
garden-city  has  awakened  the  enthusiasm  of  housing 
reformers  not  only  in  Great  Britain,  but  on  the  con- 
tinent of  Europe  as  well.  A  proprietary  garden-vil- 
lage has  been  built  at  Boumeville,  near  Birmingham, 
while  within  the  past  ten  years  30  or  40  other  garden 
communities  have  been  started.  The  best-known 
are  those  of  Letchworth  and  Hampstead.  The 
former  has  grown,  in  seven  years'  time,  from  400  to 
7,000  population.  It  is  located  34  miles  to  the 
north  of  London,  and  is  planned  upon  a  large  estate, 
purchased  for  the  pmpose,  of  3,818  acres.  It  was 
laid  off  like  an  old  English  village,  with  the  retail 
shops  confined  to  certain  streets  near  the  station. 
The  factory  sites  are  by  the  railway  track,  away 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  THE  BRITISH  CITY    291 

from  the  residence  areas,  which  are  planned  for  work- 
ingmen  or  retired  well-to-do  people.  Streets  are  of 
the  greatest  variety,  as  is  the  architecture.  Restric- 
tions limit  the  height  of  all  buildings  as  well  as  the 
distance  from  the  street.  There  is  generous  pro- 
vision for  athletic  sports.  A  conmiunity  club-house 
has  been  erected,  as  well  as  institutes  and  public 
schools.  Land  speculation  has  been  eliminated  by 
a  provision  in  the  by-laws  of  the  company,  under 
which  earnings  on  the  capital  stock  are  limited  to 
5  per  cent.,  any  profits  in  excess  of  this  being  used 
for  the  conmiunity  itself,  ultimately  for  the  reduc- 
tion of  local  taxes. 

A  similar  garden  suburb  has  been  developed  at 
Hampstead,  on  the  outskirts  of  London.  It,  too,  is 
a  co-operative  community,  in  which  the  dividends 
are  limited  to  5  per  cent,  on  the  investment.  A 
score  of  other  garden-cities  have  been  begim  in  the 
neighborhood  of  London,  Manchester,  Liverpool, 
York,  and  elsewhere. 

Possibly  the  garden-city  will  redeem  the  British 
city.  Housing  conditions  are  everywhere  bad,  and 
poverty  is  so  general  that  it  has  alarmed  the  nation. 
No  country  in  Europe  is  so  nearly  exclusively  urban 
as  Great  Britain.  The  census  of  1911  shows  a  popu- 
lation for  England  and  Wales  of  618  to  the  square 
mile.  Sixty  years  ago  the  population  was  about 
equally  divided  between  the  country  and  the  town, 
but  in  1911  the  census  shows  that  no  less  than  78 


292  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

per  cent,  of  the  population  live  under  urban,  and 
only  22  per  cent,  under  rural  conditions.  Seventy 
per  cent,  of  the  people  live  in  towns  of  more  than 
10,000  population.  Decade  by  decade  the  urban 
population  increases  in  spite  of  constant  official  ef- 
fort during  the  last  ten  years  to  create  a  movement 
back  to  the  land. 

Two  movements  have  recently  been  started  which 
promise  to  relieve  this  tendency.  One  is  the  taxa- 
tion of  land  values,  which  had  its  beginnings  in  the 
budget  fight  of  1909  for  the  valuation  of  land  and  its 
taxation  at  a  low  rate;  the  other,  the  garden-suburb 
and  garden-city  movement,  whose  possibilities  are  as 
yet  only  faintly  realized.  The  threatened  taxation 
of  land  values  has  stimulated  the  sale  of  great  es- 
tates to  small  farmers,  while  the  garden-city  move- 
ment has  indicated  the  possibihties  of  industrial  and 
residential  decentralization,  which,  from  the  present 
interest  in  the  idea,  give  promise  of  changing  the 
character  of  the  British  city.  All  these  ideas  look  to 
the  utilization  of  the  powers  of  government  to  im- 
prove the  condition  of  all  classes.  They  are  a  sug- 
gestion of  the  potentiality  of  democracy  when  con- 
sciously directed  to  social  ends. 

^  For  a  more  extended  description,  by  the  author,  of  The  Garden 
Cities  of  England,  see  Scribner's  Magazine,  July,  1912. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
HOW  THE  BRITISH  CITY  IS  GOVERNED 

The  administrative  machinery  of  the  British  city, 
or  borough,  as  it  is  legally  called,  is  very  simple. 
The  town  council  is  endowed  with  all  the  powers  the 
city  enjoys.  There  is  only  one  elective  official,  and 
that  is  the  councilman.  The  people  do  not  select 
the  mayor  or  judicial  magistrates.  There  are  no 
boards  or  commissions  which  confuse  the  voter  as 
to  where  responsibility  should  be  placed.  The  mayor 
is  chosen  by  the  council.  So  is  the  town  clerk.  The 
managers  of  the  various  departments  are  nominated 
by  committees  and  subsequently  confirmed  by  the 
council.  Up  to  1902  local  education  was  in  the  hands 
of  separate  agencies,  but  by  the  education  act  of  that 
year  it  was  transferred  to  the  council,  which  admin- 
isters education  through  a  committee.  This  is  all 
there  is  to  the  government  of  the  British  city.  It  is 
simple,  direct,  and  easily  understood  by  all. 

The  town  council  is  a  large  body,  much  larger  than 
it  is  with  us,  but  about  the  same  size  as  it  is  in  Ger- 
many. The  election  is  usually  by  wards,  although 
some  of  the  smaller  towns  elect  councilmen  at  large. 
Most  of  the  larger  boroughs  are  divided  into  sixteen 

293 


294  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

wards,  with  three  members  from  each.  In  some  cit- 
ies the  comicils  are  much  larger.  The  London  county- 
council  has  118  members.  In  Manchester  there  are 
103,  in  Liverpool  134,  and  in  Glasgow  75.  Mem- 
bers are  elected  for  a  three-year  term,  and  one-third 
retire  every  year.  All  citizens  except  clergymen, 
including  women  since  1907,  are  eligible  to  member- 
ship. Even  non-residents  may  be  chosen  if  they 
own  property  in  the  municipality  or  pay  certain  rates 
and  live  within  fifteen  miles  of  the  borough.  Nor 
need  candidates  Hve  in  the  wards  which  they  repre- 
sent. In  consequence  the  councils  of  the  larger  cit- 
ies contain  many  members  who  live  in  the  suburbs, 
but  do  business  in  the  city.  This  is  also  the  rule  as 
to  members  of  Parliament,  and  is  one  explanation  of 
the  long  service  of  capable  men  in  British  politics. 
It  enables  the  community  to  draw  on  talent  wherever 
it  may  be  found.  A  capable  man  defeated  in  one 
ward  can  stand  for  election  in  another.  This  reduces 
log-rolling.  It  raises  the  whole  city  above  its  parts. 
In  addition  to  the  councilmen  there  are  a  certain 
number  of  aldermen,  usually  sixteen,  chosen  by  the 
council  upon  its  organization,  either  from  out  its  own 
membership  or  from  distinguished  citizens  outside. 
Except  in  special  cases  the  number  of  aldermen  is 
fixed  by  law  at  one-third  of  the  council.  Aldermen 
are  chosen  for  six  years,  and  one-third  of  the  number 
retire  every  three  years.  The  usual  practice  is  to 
select  the  older  and  more  experienced  councilmen 


HOW  THE  BRITISH  CITY  IS  GOVERNED    295 

for  this  distinction,  by-elections  being  then  held  to 
fiU  the  vacancies.  Frequently  candidates  who  have 
been  defeated  for  the  council  are  elected  as  alder- 
men. Re-elections  are  the  rule,  and  it  is  common  to 
find  men  in  the  council  who  have  served  in  one  ca- 
pacity or  the  other  for  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

Aldermen  have  the  same  powers  as  councillors. 
They  sit  in  the  council,  which  has  but  one  chamber, 
and  vote  on  all  questions.  The  only  distinction  be- 
tween councilmen  and  aldermen  is  the  method  of 
election  and  the  greater  dignity  which  attaches  to  the 
latter  oflBce.  Partisan  considerations  enter  into  the 
selection,  although  it  is  not  uncommon  for  an  under- 
standing to  exist  by  which  the  minority  party  re- 
ceives recognition.  Aldermen  quite  generally  hold  the 
important  chairmanships  by  virtue  of  long  service. 

In  a  way  the  aldermen  correspond  to  the  unpaid 
members  of  the  magistrat  in  the  German  city.  Their 
experience  is  that  of  long  training,  however,  rather 
than  of  special  qualifications  for  a  particular  post. 
Here  the  analogy  ends,  for  the  aldermen  are  members 
of  the  legislative  rather  than  the  administrative  de- 
partment of  the  city. 

The  councilmen  and  aldermen  sit  together  and 
form  the  town  council.  They  elect  the  mayor  and 
appoint  the  committees.  The  more  distinguished 
members  sit  as  magistrates. 

This  is  all  there  is  to  the  machinery  of  British 
cities,  all  of  which,  with  the  exception  of  London, 


296  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

have  the  same  form  of  government.  There  is  no 
provision  for  the  permanent  expert,  as  in  Germany, 
for  neither  the  members  of  the  council  nor  the  mayor 
receive  any  salary.  Nor  is  city  administration  a  pro- 
fession to  which  men  devote  their  lives.  Such  per- 
manence and  expert  assistance  as  is  secured  is  ob- 
tained through  the  permanent  heads  of  the  depart- 
ments, who  are  trained  in  a  limited  field  rather  than 
in  the  art  of  city  administration.  In  consequence 
the  British  city  is  far  less  brilliant  than  the  German 
city.  It  has  little  of  the  imagination  and  little  of 
the  social  outlook  which  the  paid  magistrat  and  per- 
manent expert  burgomaster  give  to  the  latter.  City 
government  in  England  is  part  of  the  politics  of  the 
nation,  although  it  is  free  from  many  of  the  evils 
which  characterize  city  government  in  this  country. 

The  work  of  a  conscientious  councillor  is  very  ex- 
acting. The  council  meets  regularly,  while  the  com- 
mittees are  in  frequent  session.  There  are  inspec- 
tions to  be  made,  a  great  variety  of  city  functions 
to  attend,  while  if  the  councilman  is  a  police  magis- 
trate his  official  duties  may  easily  consume  one-half 
of  his  working  hours. 

The  simplicity  of  English  administration  is  one 
ex'planation  of  the  success  of  the  city,  as  well  as  of 
the  high  order  of  men  who  enter  the  council.  This, 
too,  in  part,  explains  the  alertness  of  the  voter.  He 
understands  the  charter.  He  knows  who  is  responsi- 
ble.   There  is  no  confusion  of  powers,  no  conflict  of 


HOW  THE  BRITISH  CITY  IS  GOVERNED    297 

authority  between  departments,  for  there  is  but  one. 
It  is  easy  to  understand  the  procedure,  to  follow  the 
reports  of  council  meetings  in  the  newspapers,  where 
they  are  fully  reported.  The  voter  probably  knows 
his  councilman  personally.  He  certainly  knows  how 
he  votes  on  all  important  questions. 

Nor  is  there  any  complicated  machinery  of  nom- 
ination or  election.  Any  man  or  woman  can  be 
nominated  by  the  filing  of  a  petition  signed  by  two 
proposers  and  eight  seconders.  Nothing  more  is  re- 
quired to  place  a  nominee  on  the  ballot.  There  are 
no  caucuses  or  conventions,  no  primaries  or  delegates 
between  the  voter  and  his  agent.  There  is  no  boss 
to  be  seen,  no  campaign  contributions  to  be  made. 
The  only  pledges  of  the  candidate  are  to  his  constit- 
uents in  the  ward. 

The  ballot  is  as  short  as  it  can  be  made.  It  is 
simplicity  itself.  When  the  voter  goes  to  the  polls 
at  a  municipal  election  in  November,  he  receives  a 
ballot  printed  on  plain  white  paper  which  contains 
the  name,  residence,  and  occupation  of  each  candi- 
date. There  is  no  reference  to  his  party  affiliations, 
for  the  party  is  not  recognized  by  law  in  municipal 
elections.  Names  are  printed  in  alphabetical  order, 
and  after  each  name  a  blank  space  is  provided  in 
which  the  voter  indicates  his  choice. 

This  ease  of  nomination  has  not  produced  a  large 
number  of  candidates,  as  would  be  expected.  There 
are  never  more  than  three  or  four  candidates,  and 


298  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

usually  there  are  but  two.  There  are  no  national, 
State,  county,  and  school  tickets  upon  a  long  blanket 
ballot;  there  are  no  alien  issues  which  have  no  pos- 
sible relation  to  the  city.  The  only  question  the 
voter  has  to  decide  is  as  to  whether  he  wants  John 
Doe  or  Richard  Roe  as  his  councilman.  Members  of 
Parliament  are  elected  at  separate  elections,  and 
usually  only  once  in  four  or  five  years.  Local  and 
national  elections  are  divorced,  and  each  campaign 
is  waged  on  its  own  merits.  The  expenses  of  the 
election  are  borne  by  the  municipality,  although  the 
ballots  are  printed  by  the  candidates. 

England  seems  to  have  adopted,  quite  as  a  matter 
of  course,  an  easy  means  for  enabling  men  to  enter 
politics  and  to  remain  there  if  they  prove  efficient. 
At  the  same  time  the  voter  can  readily  change  his 
representative  if  he  has  proved  unsatisfactory. 

Municipal  campaigns  are  often  hotly  contested, 
quite  generally  along  party  lines;  for,  while  the  ma- 
chinery encourages  independence,  the  party  organi- 
zations usually  select  the  candidates  and  aid  them 
in  their  campaigns.  Voters  adhere  to  their  parties 
quite  as  tenaciously  as  they  do  in  the  United  States 
and  the  independent  candidate  has  relatively  little 
chance  of  success. 

Quite  frequently  there  is  no  contest  in  a  ward  for 
years.  Wherever  the  party  is  overwhelmingly  strong 
or  where  a  councillor  has  been  satisfactory  to  his 
constituents  he  is  left  undisturbed  in  his  seat.    It 


HOW  THE  BRITISH  CITY  IS  GOVERNED    299 

has  happened  that  all  the  candidates  at  a  city  elec- 
tion have  been  returned  without  contest,  while  in 
the  election  of  1899  less  than  half  the  seats  in  one 
hundred  and  three  boroughs  and  urban  districts  were 
contested.  In  thirteen  of  the  municipalities  there 
was  not  a  single  councilmanic  contest. 

The  council  usually  organizes  along  party  lines. 
The  mayor  is  chosen  from  the  dominant  party,  as  are 
the  town  clerk  and  a  majority  of  the  aldermen.  The 
issues  which  divide  councillors  are  much  the  same  as 
those  which  divide  members  of  Parliament  and  are 
grouped  around  economic  and  industrial  policies. 
Members  of  the  Conservative,  or  Tory  party  are 
generally  opposed  to  any  extension  of  municipal  trad- 
ing and  are  likely  to  be  found  protecting  the  inter- 
ests of  the  landed  classes.  The  Liberal  party  is  es- 
sentially the  party  of  business  men  whose  interests 
are  only  incidentally  landed.  The  Socialist  or  La- 
bor group  is  committed  to  the  extension  of  munic- 
ipal activities,  but  only  in  a  few  of  the  boroughs 
around  London  has  it  become  the  dominant  party. 
Contests  within  the  council  relate  to  the  administra- 
tion of  the  street  railways,  the  gas,  and  other  activi- 
ties, to  housing  proposals  and  the  feeding  of  school- 
children. Labor  members  demand  a  reduction  in 
the  rates  and  charges  for  public  services,  while  the 
Liberal  and  Conservative  members  are  inclined  to 
operate  the  municipal  undertakings  so  as  to  relieve 
the  rates  and  taxes. 


300  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

The  British  city  is  really  governed  by  council 
committees.  They  are  both  legislative  and  execu- 
tive departments.  Each  committee  is  a  council  in 
miniature,  which  directs  the  department  committed 
to  its  care.  In  the  larger  cities  there  are  from 
twelve  to  twenty  standing  committees,  each  of  which 
is  further  subdivided  into  subcommittees  to  which 
are  assigned  special  branches  of  the  work.  The  sub- 
committees report  to  the  main  committee,  and  the 
main  committee  reports  to  the  whole  council.  The 
mayor  is  an  ex-officio  member  of  all  committees,  al- 
though he  rarely  takes  part  in  their  deliberations. 

Committees  are  not  appointed  by  the  mayor,  but 
are  made  up  by  the  council  itself.  Immediately  fol- 
lowing the  election  a  committee  of  committees  is 
created,  which  reports  suggested  assignments.  These 
recommendations  are  then  referred  to  the  council 
for  approval.  Ordinarily  the  personnel  of  the  com- 
mittees continues  with  little  change  from  year  to 
year.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  find  men  who  have 
served  ten,  fifteen,  or  even  twenty  years  on  a  given 
committee. 

Places  on  important  committees  are  much  sought 
after  as  a  means  of  making  a  reputation  or  for  po- 
litical advancement.  When  a  vacancy  occurs  in  a 
chairmanship  the  deputy  is  usually  advanced  to  the 
post,  just  as  members  of  the  council  pass  to  the  post 
of  mayor.  To  be  chairman  of  an  important  com- 
mittee is  an  honor  that  is  greatly  prized.    This  is 


HOW  THE  BRITISH  CITY  IS  GOVERNED    301 

particularly  true  of  those  committees  which  control 
the  street  railways,  gas  and  electric  lighting  under- 
takings, which  offer  spectacular  opportunities  for 
economies,  earnings,  and  service.  To  be  a  member 
of  one  of  these  committees,  with  a  budget  running 
into  millions  of  dollars  annually,  is  like  being  on  the 
board  of  directors  of  a  railroad  corporation  in  this 
coimtry.    And  it  is  sought  for  for  the  same  reason. 

The  chairman  is  a  kind  of  little  mayor,  selected  by 
the  committee  on  its  organization.  He  presides  over 
its  meetings,  and  if  he  is  interested  in  its  work  be- 
comes an  ex-offi,cio  director  of  the  department.  The 
committee  employs  the  director  and  staff.  It  fixes 
wages,  salaries,  and  the  details  of  management.  It 
prepares  and  spends  its  annual  budget.  All  of  its 
actions  are,  however,  referred  to  the  council  for  ap- 
proval. At  stated  intervals  a  voluminous  report  is 
made,  usually  at  the  end  of  the  year,  which  is  dis- 
cussed by  the  council  as  a  whole. 

The  managers  of  the  various  departments  are  usu- 
ally trained  men,  frequently  chosen  by  competition 
from  other  cities,  or  advanced  from  one  post  to  an- 
other much  as  are  the  managers  of  a  private  corpora- 
tion. They  are  paid  good  salaries,  and  are  rarely 
changed  for  political  reasons.  Employment  is  per- 
manent, as  it  is  in  Germany.  A  professional  class  of 
expert  officials  has  thus  been  produced  which  makes 
a  business  of  municipal  administration.  The  Brit- 
ish city  expert  differs  from  the  German  burgomaster 


302  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

in  being  the  director  of  a  single  department  rather 
than  in  being  one  of  the  managers  of  the  city. 

The  committee  is  the  central  feature  of  the  British 
city.  To  it  all  matters  are  referred.  From  it  almost 
all  initiative  comes.  The  great  increase  in  munici- 
pal functions  which  has  taken  place  in  recent  years 
has  made  it  impossible  for  the  council  as  a  whole  to 
familiarize  itself  ^dth  the  details  of  administration 
in  each  department  or  to  have  an  intelligent  opinion 
about  its  needs.  In  consequence  the  recormnenda- 
tions  of  the  committee  are  usually  approved  by  the 
council  as  a  whole,  and  in  most  of  the  details  of  man- 
agement it  acts  as  though  it  were  an  independent  body. 

The  position  of  mayor  or  provost — as  the  mayor 
is  called  in  Scotland — is  a  social  and  titular  rather 
than  executive  post.  The  mayor  is  chosen  by  the 
council  each  year  upon  its  organization  rather  than 
by  the  people  directly.  He  is  the  chairman  of  the 
council,  and  his  selection  is  often  determined  by 
seniority  of  service.  The  council  system  of  admin- 
istration ofTers  no  place  for  a  strong  mayor,  as  do 
the  German  and  American  systems,  for  all  of  the  de- 
tails of  administration  are  lodged  with  the  council 
conmiittees.  The  public  does  not  hold  the  execu- 
tive responsible  for  the  success  or  failure  of  city 
administration,  and  rarely  does  he  promote  a  policy 
or  stand  for  a  programme.  Almost  the  only  notable 
exception  is  that  of  Mr.  Joseph  Chamberlain,  who 
was  Mayor  of  Birmingham  from  1873  to  1876. 


HOW  THE  BRITISH  CITY  IS  GOVERNED    303 

Despite  the  lack  of  power  of  the  mayor,  his  social 
activities  are  very  absorbing.  He  entertains  the 
city's  guests,  opens  hospitals  and  public  buildings, 
and  presides  on  all  public  occasions.  The  town  hall 
is  the  centre  of  many  activities,  of  receptions,  balls, 
and  other  functions,  at  which  the  mayor  is  the  host. 
He  is  called  upon  to  adjust  labor  disputes  and  to 
represent  the  city  on  formal  occasions.  If  the  King 
honors  the  city  with  a  visit  he  has  the  distinction 
of  entertaining  him.  These,  however,  are  his  extra- 
legal powers.  By  virtue  of  his  office  he  is  a  member 
of  all  committees,  although  he  rarely  attends  them. 
He  has  no  veto  power  over  legislation,  and  makes 
no  important  appointments.  He  is  a  justice  of  the 
peace  and  sits  as  magistrate  in  the  disposition  of 
petty  cases. 

In  spite  of  this  lack  of  power,  the  office  of  mayor 
is  the  goal  of  the  business  man's  ambition.  For  this 
distinction  he  serves  in  the  council.  Toward  this 
honor  he  looks  forward  as  the  end  of  an  honorable 
career.  In  anticipation  of  the  burdens  it  entails 
upon  his  purse,  he  saves.  For  in  the  larger  cities  the 
mayor  must  be  a  man  of  wealth.  And  if  his  fondest 
hopes  are  realized,  retirement  from  office  is  crowned 
by  a  knighthood  from  the  King.  This  is  the  apothe- 
osis of  the  British  tradesman,  the  shopkeeper,  and 
the  manufacturer,  who  form  the  ruling  class  in  the 
cities. 

The  office  involves  heavy  expense  to  the  mayor's 


304  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

private  purse,  for  he  receives  no  salary.  He  is,  how- 
ever, relieved  of  a  portion  of  the  burden  which  his 
many  social  obligations  entail  by  an  appropriation 
by  the  council  for  the  puipose.  In  some  of  the 
larger  cities,  like  London,  Liverpool,  and  Dublin,  he 
has  a  mansion  house  as  a  town  residence.  Some  cit- 
ies also  maintain  a  coach  and  pair  for  his  use.  On 
official  occasions  he  is  adorned  with  robes  and  jewels, 
and  cuts  a  distinguished  figure  before  the  community. 
For  some  years  Dublin  appropriated  $18,000  a  year 
for  its  lord  mayor,  but  this  appropriation  was  re- 
cently reduced  to  $8,000.  Bristol  allows  him  $5,000 
and  $600  more  for  a  private  secretary.  Edinburgh 
appropriates  $5,000  for  its  lord  provost,  while  Brad- 
ford, Leeds,  Belfast,  and  Hull  make  no  standing 
appropriation,  but  provide  for  the  expenses  of  enter- 
tainment on  special  occasions.  But  no  matter  what 
the  appropriation  may  be,  it  is  rarely  sufficient  to 
meet  the  expenses  incident  to  the  proper  maintenance 
of  the  office.  In  spite  of  this  fact  the  mayoralty 
commands  the  talent  of  the  community  and  excites 
the  ambition  of  successful  business  men. 

The  British  official  who  corresponds  most  closely 
to  the  German  burgomaster,  and  in  some  respects 
to  the  American  mayor,  is  the  town  clerk.  The  office 
is  a  distinguished  one  and  requires  a  high  order  of 
ability.  The  clerk  is  elected  by  the  council;  he  re- 
ceives a  generous  salary,  holds  office  during  good 
behavior,  and  makes  a  profession  of  his  calling.    He 


HOW  THE  BRITISH  CITY  IS  GOVERNED    305 

is  usually  a  lawyer  and  must  be  familiar  with  the 
many  special  acts  relating  to  the  city  and  be  able 
to  appear  before  parliamentary  committees  for  the 
promotion  of  local  legislation. 

The  clerk  of  Glasgow  receives  $10,000  a  year. 
Some  years  ago  when  a  vacancy  occurred  in  that 
city,  the  council  advertised  for  a  clerk  just  as  the 
German  city  advertises  for  members  of  its  magis- 
trat.  Partisan  questions  usually  influence  the  selec- 
tion, but  not  to  the  neglect  of  ability. 

The  clerk  is  in  a  sense  the  guiding  spirit  of  the 
British  city.  To  him  the  council  turns  for  advice 
upon  all  kinds  of  municipal  questions.  He  is  the 
secretary  of  all  committees,  and  the  custodian  of  the 
city's  records.  He  reports  to  the  local  government 
board  and  the  board  of  trade,  and  prepares  the  offi- 
cial transactions  of  the  municipality.  He  attends  the 
meetings  of  the  council  as  well  as  of  important  com- 
mittees. He  prepares  reports  and  performs  such 
other  duties  as  the  council  may  provide.  In  the 
larger  towns  he  has  a  number  of  assistants  who  are 
trained  like  himself.  The  town  clerk,  together  with 
permanent  salaried  heads  of  departments,  constitutes 
the  expert  element  in  British  city  administration. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  the  spoils  system  in  the 
British  city,  nor  are  there  any  civil  service  laws  as 
there  are  with  us.  Public  opinion  would  not  tolerate 
the  use  of  public  office  for  the  organization  of  a  party 
machine  or  the  payment  of  personal  debts.     Merit 


306  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

is  recognized  in  all  departments,  and  permanency  of 
tenure  is  assured,  even  among  day  laborers. 

Nor  has  the  extension  of  municipal  trading,  with 
the  thousands  of  employees  which  it  has  added  to 
the  pay-roll,  weakened  the  traditions  or  the  sanctity 
of  pubHc  office.  It  is  quite  possible  that  municipal 
trading  has  strengthened  the  merit  system  by  reason 
of  the  bigness  of  the  city  and  the  importance  of  its 
activities.  The  introduction  of  the  spoils  system 
would  dislocate  so  many  services  that  it  would  arouse 
an  irresistible  protest.  There  has  been  some  fear 
that  the  increase  in  the  number  of  employees  might 
lead  to  the  coercion  of  the  council  by  organized  labor, 
but  this  fear  has  never  been  realized,  partly  because 
the  city  pays  a  higher  standard  of  wages  and  treats 
its  employees  better  than  do  the  private  employers, 
and  partly  because  public  opinion  would  quickly  re- 
sent any  such  attempt. 

The  British  city  is  honest;  of  that  there  is  no 
doubt.  There  have  been  instances  of  favoritism  in 
awarding  contracts  by  the  smaller  communities,  but 
these  have  been  ruthlessly  uncovered.  A  few  in- 
stances have  also  come  to  light  in  which  members  of 
councils  were  stockholders  in  corporations  or  were 
otherwise  interested  in  contracts  from  the  city.  In 
Manchester,  where  an  alderman  had  a  slight  interest 
as  stockholder  in  a  company  which  secured  an  award, 
even  though  the  award  was  to  the  lowest  and  best 
bidder,  the  alderman  was  forced  to  resign  his  office. 


A  Back  Garden  in  Port  Sunlight,  Garden  Village. 


HOW  THE  BRITISH  CITY  IS  GOVERNED    307 

Instances  of  this  kind,  however,  are  rare.  None  of 
the  evils  so  freely  predicted  as  inherent  in  municipal 
ownership  have  followed  the  municipalization  of  the 
pubHc  service  corporations.  There  has  been  no  graft, 
no  machine,  no  spoils.  Rather  the  reverse  has  been 
true.  The  importance  of  the  city's  activities  has  in- 
creased the  sense  of  responsibility  on  the  part  of  the 
public  and  the  press.  It  has  brought  the  city  into 
close  and  intimate  touch  with  all  the  citizens,  who 
are  jealous  of  the  services  rendered,  of  the  earnings 
and  the  success  of  the  undertaking. 

The  British  city  is  also  eflBcient.  It  has  not  the 
big  vision  of  the  German  city  nor  the  generosity  of 
our  own.  The  system  of  taxation  creates  a  cheese- 
paring policy  on  the  part  of  the  council,  and  resent- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  community  of  any  under- 
taking which  increases  the  burdens  of  taxes.  Nor  has 
the  city  the  co-operation  of  the  university  and  of 
science  as  it  has  in  Germany,  where  every  municipal 
problem  is  the  subject  of  exhaustive  study  and  a 
voluminous  literature.  Economy  is  the  prevailing 
note  in  administration,  and  expenditures  are  scruti- 
nized when  made  for  anything  save  obviously  nec- 
essary purposes.  The  fear  of  the  taxpayer  is  present 
in  every  councilman's  breast.  This  checks  much 
needed  expenditure  for  schools,  parks,  playgrounds, 
and  those  social  activities  that  have  developed  so 
rapidly  in  this  country  and  Germany. 

Councilmen,  too,  come  from  a  different  class  than 


308  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

in  Germany.  They  are  for  the  most  part  tradesmen, 
small  shopkeepers,  self-made  men  of  limited  educa- 
tion and  imagination.  Rarely  do  the  leism-e  classes 
or  the  aristocracy  seek  municipal  office.  They  do 
not  mix  in  city  affairs,  but  live  almost  exclusively 
in  the  country.  But  there  is  a  fine  earnestness  about 
city  administration,  and  conscientious  devotion  to 
public  work.  Council  meetings  are  well  attended, 
and  the  discussions  are  very  animated.  Members 
of  the  council  as  well  as  the  permanent  officials  are 
highly  respected  in  their  communities.  In  recent 
years  labor  candidates  have  been  finding  their  way 
into  councils.  They  have  not  obtained  control  in 
any  of  the  large  cities,  but  they  do  exert  a  stimulat- 
ing influence  on  public  opinion.  There  has  been  no 
suggestion  that  administration  has  suffered,  or  that 
honesty  and  efficiency  have  in  any  way  depreciated, 
by  their  coming. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
THE  EXPLANATION  OF  THE  BRITISH  CITY 

We  can  only  understand  the  cities  of  Great  Britain 
when  we  understand  the  class  which  rules  the  nation 
of  which  they  are  a  part.  This  is  because  the  city 
has  no  life  of  its  own.  It  is  not  independent;  it  is 
the  creature  of  Parliament  in  Great  Britain,  just  as 
it  is  the  creature  of  the  state  legislature  in  America. 
In  both  countries  it  has  only  such  powers,  only  such 
life,  as  the  legislature  permits  it  to  enjoy. 

In  this  respect  the  modern  city  differs  from  those  of 
ancient  and  mediaeval  times.  Then  the  city  was  free, 
free  in  the  sense  that  Athens,  Corinth,  Syracuse,  and 
Rome  were  free;  free  as  were  the  city  states  of  Ham- 
burg, Bremen,  Frankfort,  and  Liibeck.  Present-day 
cities,  however,  are  political  wards.  Their  life  is 
minutely  fixed  for  them  by  state  laws.  This  more 
than  anything  else  distinguishes  the  twentieth-cen- 
tury city  from  the  cities  of  antiquity. 

And  until  we  appreciate  this  fact,  and  all  that  it 
imphes;  until  we  know  the  laws  of  the  state  and 
something  of  the  class  which  makes  these  laws;  until 
we  fathom  the  economic  interests  that  control  legis- 
lative bodies,  we  cannot  understand  the  city  at  aU. 

309 


310  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

Even  the  psychology  of  the  people  is  traceable  to 
economic  rather  than  to  racial  influences;  it  is 
traceable  to  economic  influences  which  in  turn  are 
traceable  to  laws  which  create  the  environment  in 
which  people  not  only  live  but  think  as  well. 

Students  of  the  city  have  failed  to  realize  this  fact ; 
they  have  failed  to  see  how  completely  the  city  is 
moulded  by  laws  in  whose  making  it  has  no  part. 
Yet  the  attitude  of  mind  of  the  people,  their  love  or 
indifference,  the  psychology  of  the  voter,  is  the  re- 
flection of  the  legal  status  which  the  cities  enjoy. 
The  physical  appearance  of  the  city  is  a  product  of 
the  same  antecedent  legal  conditions.  It  is  beauti- 
ful or  ugly;  it  is  comfortable  or  the  reverse;  it  is 
healthful  or  unsanitary — all  these  local  conditions  re- 
late back  to  the  state  itself.  They  are  consequences 
of  the  class  interests  which  dominate  Parliament, 
diets,  and  legislatures.  And  if  the  city  is  the  prey 
of  privileged  interests,  if  it  is  denied  the  power  to 
own  or  regulate  the  physical  basis  of  its  life,  it  will 
reflect  the  license  of  private  property,  as  it  does  in 
England  and  America. 

The  British  city  has  little  liberty.  It  enjoys  none 
of  the  freedom  of  the  German  or  Italian  city.  In 
many  ways  it  is  far  less  free  than  are  our  own.  There 
is  no  ripper  legislation  in  Great  Britain,  no  changing 
of  charters  for  partisan  reasons  or  at  the  behest  of 
some  powerful  boss  or  corporation  behind  the  boss. 
This  is  unknown  and  inconceivable.    And  the  city 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  BRITISH  CITY    311 

has  substantial  autonomy  in  police  and  sanitary 
matters.  There  has  been  no  change  in  the  form  of 
municipal  government  for  three-quarters  of  a  cen- 
tury, for  the  Municipal  Corporations  Act  of  1835, 
which  provided  a  uniform  charter  for  all  municipal 
corporations,  has  remained  substantially  unchanged 
since  that  time.  And  because  Great  Britain  is  free 
from  ripper  legislation  and  legislative  interference 
with  the  form  of  government,  we  have  assumed 
that  the  city  enjoys  home  rule  and  substantial  self- 
government.  But  nothing  is  farther  from  the  truth. 
Cities  have  far  less  power  to  control  the  things  which 
lie  at  the  heart  of  their  life  than  do  our  own  cities, 
crippled  as  they  are  by  the  jealousy  of  state  legis- 
latures and  of  powerful  business  interests. 

The  British  city  has  been  treated  by  Parliament 
as  a  feudal  possession,  as  though  it  were  still  the 
property  of  the  landed  aristocracy,  as  it  was  in  feudal 
times.  Legislation  affecting  cities  has  been  enacted 
with  an  eye  to  the  creation  and  preservation  of  pri- 
vate rights,  rather  than  for  the  development  of  a  free 
community.  Parliament  has  thought  but  little  of 
the  claims  of  the  city.  It  has  thought  of  the  prop- 
erty of  its  members,  which  has  been  safeguarded  in 
every  possible  way. 

During  the  nineteenth  century  great  cities  came 
into  existence  on  the  landed  estates,  into  which  the 
country  is  still  divided,  for  to  this  day  the  feudal 
aristocracy,  which  dominates  the  House  of  Lords, 


312  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

and  is  ascendant  in  the  House  of  Commons  as  well, 
retains  title  to  nearly  all  the  land  of  Great  Britain, 
and  collects  ground  rents  from  the  great  majority  of 
the  British  people.  City  dwellers,  rich  and  poor  alike, 
are  tenants — ground  tenants.  They  do  not  own  the 
land  on  which  their  houses,  factories,  or  office  build- 
ings have  been  erected.  They  are  like  the  tenants 
of  the  Astor  estate  in  New  York  or  the  ground  ten- 
ants of  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia.  The  land  is  still 
owned  by  the  descendants  of  the  families  that  owned 
it  when  the  country  was  almost  exclusively  agricult- 
ural. It  is  this  that  has  made  the  aristocracy  of 
Great  Britain  so  rich  and  all  the  rest  of  the  nation 
so  poor.  It  is  the  universal  system  of  land  monopoly 
and  the  political  control  of  the  land-owning  class  that 
explain  the  British  city,  for  the  powers  which  the 
cities  enjoy  have  been  granted  with  a  jealous  eye 
to  the  rights  or  claims  of  the  landed  classes. 

The  extent  of  land  monopoly  is  almost  incredible. 
One-fourth  of  the  land  of  the  United  Kingdom  is 
owned  by  1,200  persons,  another  fourth  is  held  by 
6,200  owners,  while  the  remaining  one-half  is  dis- 
tributed between  312,150  persons.  There  are  twelve 
landlords  who  own  four  and  one-half  million  acres 
between  them.  The  land  underlying  London,  with 
its  7,000,000  people,  is  owned  in  large  part  by  nine 
estates.  The  city  of  Huddersfield,  with  its  95,000 
people,  is  owned  by  another  noble  lord;  so  are  the 
cities  of  Sheffield  and  Bury;  so  are  Burton-on-Trent 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  BRITISH  CITY    313 

and  Devenport.  City  after  city  is  built  upon  the 
land  of  one  or  more  great  owners,  whose  rent-rolls 
have  reached  colossal  proportions  through  no  efforts 
of  their  own. 

The  lands  of  the  aristocracy  are  entailed  or  pro- 
tected from  alienation  by  settlements.  Owners  can- 
not sell  their  estates  even  if  they  would.  It  is  the 
universal  custom  to  lease  land  to  tenants  with  the 
provision  in  the  contract  that  all  the  improvements 
made  by  the  tenant  shall  return  to  the  landlord 
without  compensation  on  the  expiration  of  the  lease. 
By  this  process  the  landed  aristocracy  gradually  ac- 
quires all  of  the  improvements  on  the  land,  and  by 
periodical  reappraisal  of  the  leases  they  increase  the 
burden  of  rent  which  the  producing  classes  pay. 

Not  only  is  this  true,  but  wherever  possible  the 
landed  aristocracy  in  Parliament  has  converted  mere 
licenses  into  vested  interests  that  can  only  be  taken 
away  or  acquired  by  the  public  on  the  payment  of 
heavy  damages.  Privileges  without  number  have 
been  so  created.  Markets  are  rights  appurtenant 
to  land.  If  the  city  desires  to  open  a  market,  it  is  re- 
quired to  pay  not  for  the  land  alone,  but  for  the  right 
to  maintain  a  market  as  well.  For  cities  have  no 
general  right  of  eminent  domain  or  compulsory  pur- 
chase, as  they  have  with  us.  They  have  to  negotiate 
with  the  land-owner,  and  to  acquire  the  land  on  his 
terms,  and  then  go  to  the  same  landlord  and  his 
associates  in  Parliament  to  secure  the  right  to  enter 


314  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

on  the  enterprise.  All  London  with  its  7,000,000 
people  is  dependent  upon  Covent  Garden  Market, 
owned  by  the  family  of  Bedford,  from  which  the 
present  duke  enjoys  a  princely  revenue;  and  so  pow- 
erful are  the  present  owners  that  the  London  County 
Council  has  never  been  able  to  secure  the  right  to 
open  a  market  of  its  own  even  on  the  land  which  it 
already  possesses. 

Docks,  too,  are  monopoly  privileges  which  can 
only  be  acquired  on  such  terms  as  the  owners  exact. 
And  the  right  to  own  the  docks  has  to  be  first  se- 
cured by  the  city  from  the  class  which  owns  the 
land  to  be  acquired  for  the  purpose.  Even  the  right 
to  maintain  a  public-house  or  saloon  is  a  landed 
privilege  which  can  only  be  taken  away  by  the  pay- 
ment to  the  land-owner  of  the  capitalized  value  of 
the  rental  he  has  received  from  the  public-house 
keeper  for  its  use  for  that  purpose.  The  measure 
of  damages  is  not  the  injury  suffered  by  the  saloon- 
keeper; it  is  rather  the  capitalized  value  of  monopoly 
rents  which  the  owner  of  the  land  has  been  able  to 
collect. 

Cities  have  to  pay  extortionate  prices  for  the  right 
to  lay  water-mains  to  distant  water-supplies.  They 
cannot  build  until  the  tribute  which  the  land-owners 
demand  has  been  satisfied.  Nor  can  they  condemn 
slums  and  tenements;  they  can  only  raze  them  on 
payment  of  the  capitalized  value  of  their  congested 
rentals,  rentals  which  have  been  artificially  enhanced 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  BRITISH  CITY    315 

by  overcrowding  encouraged  by  the  owner  in  antici- 
pation of  such  purchase  by  the  community.  Street- 
railway,  gas,  and  water  undertakings  can  only  be  ac- 
quired in  the  same  way  on  the  payment  of  their 
franchise  value.  The  class  which  rules  in  Parliament 
owns  all  these  agencies  which  lie  so  close  to  the  life 
of  the  people.  And  the  noble  peers  at  Westminster 
have  only  permitted  the  cities  to  regulate  or  to  buy 
them  on  such  terms  as  the  owners  themselves  dic- 
tated. 

The  cost  of  this  class  control  of  the  cities  is  colossal. 
It  is  seen  in  the  indebtedness  of  the  towns,  in  the 
capitalization  of  the  steam  railways,  in  the  burdens 
imposed  on  municipal  enterprises.  Most  of  all,  it  is 
seen  in  the  terrible  suffering  of  the  people,  in  the 
poverty  of  the  cities,  in  the  depopulation  of  the 
countryside,  for  these  conditions  are  traceable  to  the 
privileges  created  by  those  who  own  and  who  at  the 
same  time  rule  the  nation. 

This  is  the  economic  foundation  of  the  British 
city.  It  is  the  product  of  class  rule.  The  House  of 
Lords  is  almost  exclusively  a  landed  body.  Its 
power  was  recently  limited  by  the  abolition  of  its 
veto  on  the  budget  and  its  suspension  on  other  legis- 
lation. But  the  landed  classes  are  still  powerful  in 
the  House  of  Commons.  They  control  the  Conser- 
vative party.  They  are  powerful  in  the  Liberal 
party.  But  far  more  important  than  their  present 
power  are  the  laws  adopted  during  preceding  cen- 


316  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

tunes  which  protect  their  privileges  in  every  possi- 
ble way.  There  are  a  thousand  restraints  on  munici- 
pal initiative,  hundreds  of  laws,  customs,  and  usages 
that  suppress  freedom.  Great  Britain  had  no  day 
of  feudal  renunciation,  as  had  France  during  the 
Revolution.  It  had  no  Von  Stein  and  Hardenburg, 
as  had  Germany,  to  repeal  the  old  abuses.  At  no 
time  has  democracy  been  able  to  repeal  the  multi- 
tude of  class  laws  which  were  largely  swept  away  in 
Europe  under  the  influences  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion. 

Costly  as  are  the  examples  of  class  rule  referred 
to,  the  costliest  of  all  is  the  system  of  local  taxation 
which  the  landlords  in  Parliament  have  imposed  on 
the  cities;  a  system  under  which  all  of  the  local 
taxes  have  been  shifted  onto  the  backs  of  the  ten- 
ant. Incredible  as  it  may  seem,  land  as  land  pays 
no  direct  taxes  for  local  purposes  at  all.  The  land 
has  not  been  assessed  for  taxation  since  1692,  when 
Great  Britain  was  an  agricultural  country  and  Lon- 
don was  httle  more  than  a  village.  The  landlords 
have  never  permitted  a  revaluation  to  be  made  or 
their  taxes  to  be  increased  until  the  budget  of  1909 
was  adopted  by  a  recent  Liberal  ministry. 

As  stated  elsewhere,  all  local  rates  or  taxes  are 
paid  by  the  tenant.  Whereas  we  ascertain  the  sell- 
ing value  of  real  property,  and  upon  this  valuation 
assess  the  local  rate,  which  ranges  from  1  to  2  per 
cent.,  in  Great  Britain  the  rent  actually  paid  by  the 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  BRITISH  CITY    317 

tenant  is  ascertained,  and  then  the  tenant  is  com- 
pelled to  pay  an  additional  sum  as  taxes.  His  taxes, 
or  rates,  are  determined  by  the  amount  of  his  rent. 
If  his  rent  is  $500  a  year,  he  pays  from  $150  to  $250 
more  in  taxes;  and  if  the  property  is  not  occupied, 
it  pays  no  taxes  at  all,  for  there  is  no  one  from  whom 
they  can  be  collected.  If  it  is  unimproved  or  is  not 
used,  it  is  tax-free.  It  may  be  in  the  heart  of  the 
business  district  and  be  worth  millions  of  dollars, 
but  if  no  rent  is  received  for  its  use  it  pays  no  tax. 

It  is  against  this  injustice  that  five  hundred  local 
communities  have  organized  to  promote  a  measure 
in  Parliament  for  permission  to  substitute  the  Ameri- 
can system  of  taxation,  based  upon  capital  or  selling 
rather  than  upon  rental  values.  But  the  landlords 
have  repeatedly  thrown  out  the  bills,  for  tax  ex- 
emption is  the  most  valuable  privilege  which  they 
enjoy.  By  this  simple  device  they  relieve  them- 
selves from  taxes,  which,  if  assessed  as  they  are  in 
America,  would  amount  to  approximately  $200,000,- 
000  a  year.  That  is  what  the  landed  aristocracy 
would  pay  if  their  land  were  taxed  as  it  is  in  this 
country.  New  York  City  alone  collects  approxi- 
mately $80,000,000  a  year  from  land  values,  exclu- 
sive of  the  taxes  on  improvements. 

The  system  of  local  taxation  explains  the  poverty 
of  the  people  and  the  wretched  housing  conditions 
which  everywhere  prevail.  It  also  explains  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  city.    For  the  exemption  of  land  from 


318  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

taxation  enables  the  owner  to  keep  it  out  of  use; 
this  in  turn  congests  the  city  within  the  smallest 
possible  limits.  It  increases  rents  through  the  mo- 
nopoly holding  of  the  land,  and  this,  together  with 
the  bad  houses  that  are  built,  explains  the  tenement 
and  the  slum. 

In  consequence,  Great  Britain  is  a  land  speculator's 
paradise.  The  owner  is  under  no  necessity  to  im- 
prove his  property  or  to  dispose  of  his  holdings.  He 
can  hold  them  out  of  use  for  an  indefinite  time. 
Congestion  follows  as  a  matter  of  course,  for  building 
sites  are  held  until  they  are  ripe  for  tenements. 
Population  is  kept  closely  confined  until  it  can  be  re- 
strained no  longer,  and  then  when  it  overflows  it 
passes  on  to  land  as  prohibitive  in  price  as  that  from 
which  it  was  crowded.  This  is  why  British  cities 
are  built  close  up  to  undeveloped  agricultural  land; 
this  is  why  tenements  may  be  seen  close  packed 
upon  the  land  with  hundreds  of  acres  of  open  coun- 
try all  about  them,  tenements  which  are  almost  as 
crowded  as  those  in  the  centre  of  the  city.  There  is 
no  pressure  on  the  owner  to  improve,  for  he  is  able 
to  realize  the  last  penny  in  the  pound  by  holding 
his  property  until  it  is  absolutely  needed  for  building. 

Parliament  exercises  its  power  over  the  city  and 
protects  the  interests  of  the  ruling  class  in  many 
other  ways.  Cities,  it  is  true,  are  generally  per- 
mitted to  enter  on  industrial  undertakings  that  are 
not  too  novel  or  too  hazardous.    They  have  little 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  BRITISH  CITY    319 

difficulty  in  securing  power  to  acquire  a  street  rail- 
way or  a  gas  plant,  to  build  model  houses  or  tene- 
ments. But  all  these  things  have  to  be  authorized 
by  a  special  act.  They  are  not  enjoyed  as  a  matter 
of  right.  Every  new  bond  issue,  every  new  project, 
has  to  come  before  Parliament  for  approval.  In- 
vestigations are  first  made  by  the  local  government 
board,  which  makes  a  report  on  the  subject,  after 
which  Parliament  legislates.  And  it  is  through  the 
conditions  imposed  on  the  project  that  the  privileged 
classes  exercise  their  control  and  exact  their  tribute. 
A  slum  clearance  is  authorized  only  when  the  land- 
lords in  Parliament  are  assured  that  the  owners'  esti- 
mate of  damage  will  be  satisfied.  Docks  can  only 
be  built  with  the  permission  of  the  same  class  and 
on  its  terms.  The  acquisition  of  new  sources  of 
supply  for  water  plants,  the  regulation  of  the  liquor 
traffic,  the  acquisition  of  markets — all  these  must  be 
submitted  to  the  owners  of  the  property  affected  in 
Parliament  before  approval  is  given.  This  is  the 
way  privilege  protects  its  interests.  And  the  laws 
enter  into  the  greatest  particularity  as  to  the  way 
things  shall  be  done,  the  amount  of  money  that 
shall  be  spent,  and  the  method  employed  in  comput- 
ing damages.  In  this  way  the  city  is  supervised  by 
Parliament  not  for  its  own  good,  but  for  the  good 
of  the  class  which  is  supreme  in  politics. 

The  special  acts  relating  to  a  large  city  fill  half  a 
dozen  volumes.    The  time  of  Parliament  is  consumed 


320  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

with  private  acts  promoted  by  municipal  authorities 
for  the  enlargement  of  their  powers.  Private  acts 
are  initiated  by  the  town  council,  which  directs  that 
a  bill  be  prepared  for  the  purpose.  The  measure  is 
then  sent  to  the  member  of  Parliament  who  repre- 
sents the  district.  All  of  the  interested  parties  are 
notified  in  order  that  hearings  may  be  had  by  the 
committee  to  which  the  measure  has  been  referred. 
And  if  the  bill  involves  the  expenditure  of  money, 
it  must  be  submitted  to  the  rate-payers  for  approval. 

Municipal  authorities  can  only  borrow  money  for 
the  extension  of  their  street-railway  systems,  for 
change  in  the  method  of  traction,  for  the  carrying 
of  parcels,  or  the  sale  of  such  accessories  as  gas- 
stoves  and  electric  equipment,  with  the  slow  and 
tedious  approval  of  Parliament.  Such  powers  as 
the  American  city  enjoys  as  a  matter  of  course  in 
condemnation  proceedings,  special  assessments,  the 
issuance  of  bonds,  the  management  of  water  under- 
takings, the  building  of  docks,  or  the  opening  of 
markets  do  not  exist  in  Great  Britain.  And  it  is 
these  activities  which  control  a  city's  life.  They  are 
far  more  important  to  the  comfort  and  convenience 
and  health  of  the  community  than  are  the  forms  of 
the  charter,  upon  which  we  place  so  much  emphasis. 

Special  legislation,  too,  is  very  costly.  Pariiamen- 
tary  barristers,  who  belong  to  the  privileged  classes, 
must  be  employed  to  promote  each  measure.  Ex- 
pert witnesses  must  be  secured.     A  parliamentary 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  BRITISH  CITY    321 

report  shows  that  during  the  six  years  from  1892  to 
1898  the  local  authorities  of  Great  Britain  spent 
$3,490,000  to  secure  new  powers  or  to  protect  them- 
selves from  private  bills  introduced  by  special  in- 
terests which  were  opposed  by  the  cities.  The 
London  County  Council  spent  $750,000  to  prevent 
the  passage  of  a  franchise  grant  for  an  electric 
light  and  power  monopoly.  This  sum  was  used  for 
legitimate  purposes  in  the  payment  of  parhamen- 
tary  agents  and  experts  in  the  controversy  over  the 
bill.  Private  and  local  bill  legislation  is  so  costly 
that  it  is  impossible  to  correct  many  minor  abuses 
or  to  secure  affirmative  legislation  for  many  activi- 
ties that  should  be  enjoyed  as  a  matter  of  course. 
The  city  is  also  subject  to  supervision  by  the 
local  government  board  and  the  board  of  trade,  which 
are  cabinet  portfolios,  like  the  interior  department 
of  Prussia.  The  local  government  board  sanctions 
and  supervises  all  loans.  It  investigates  as  to  the 
advisability  of  any  new  project.  The  health  of  the 
city  is  supervised  by  the  state  authorities  on  the 
assumption  that  the  city  is  an  integral  part  of  the 
nation.  The  board  has  control  of  poor-law  admin- 
istration and  the  board  of  guardians.  In  England 
and  Wales  it  audits  the  accounts  of  local  authorities 
by  accountants  who  go  from  city  to  city  to  see 
whether  any  irregiilarity  has  occurred  or  any  funds 
have  been  spent  in  violation  of  law.  The  town 
planning  act  of   1909  was  intrusted  to  the  local 


322  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

government  board,  which  passes  upon  all  proposals 
for  the  development  of  suburban  areas  and  the  pro- 
motion of  health  and  sanitary  arrangements. 

There  are  no  statutory  debt  limits,  as  in  America. 
A  municipal  corporation  may  borrow  in  any  amount 
that  Parliament  or  the  central  authorities  permit. 
But  it  cannot  borrow  a  penny  without  this  assent. 
Orders  sanctioning  loans  carefully  prescribe  the  rate 
of  interest  to  be  paid  and  the  provisions  for  the 
repa3mient  of  the  debt. 

Nor  does  the  city  grant  franchises  to  public  util- 
ity corporations.  These,  too,  are  made  by  Parlia- 
ment by  special  acts  which  impose  the  terms  and 
conditions  for  the  use  of  the  city  streets.  The  city 
is  consulted  in  these  grants,  but  it  has  no  power  to 
make  them. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  exaggerate  or  even  enu- 
merate the  evils  which  flow  from  this  control  of  the 
city  by  Parliament,  a  control  which  is  in  effect  lodged 
in  the  hands  of  those  who  own  the  things  which  most 
vitally  affect  the  city's  life.  Just  as  the  American 
city  is  cramped  and  confined  by  class  legislation,  in- 
spired for  the  most  part  by  public  service  corpora- 
tions, railways,  and  land  speculators,  so  the  British 
city  is  in  chains  to  the  landed  aristocracy,  which  re- 
fuses to  endow  it  with  home  rule,  and  which  watch- 
fully supervises  every  grant  of  power  to  insure  that 
its  own  property  and  privileges  will  be  protected. 
In  possibly  no  country  in  the  world  is  privilege  more 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  BRITISH  CITY    323 

absolute  in  its  ascendency  or  more  costly  in  its  con- 
trol than  in  the  cities  of  Great  Britain,  whose  achieve- 
ments have  been  made  in  spite  of,  rather  than  in 
consequence  of,  the  aid  and  co-operation  of  the 
state. 

But  the  cost  of  this  class  control  does  not  end 
here.  This  supervision  over  the  city,  but  most  of 
all  the  system  of  taxation  and  land  monopoly  which 
prevails,  explain  the  physical  appearance  of  the  city; 
they  explain  its  lack  of  beauty  and  charm.  These, 
too,  explain  the  meanness  of  city  architecture,  and 
the  failure  of  the  British  city  to  grow  as  have  the 
far  more  beautiful  cities  of  the  Continent. 

For  the  British  city  is  ugly.  There  are  but  few 
exceptions.  Parts  of  Edinburgh  and  Dublin  are 
beautiful.  So  are  Oxford,  Cambridge,  and  Chester, 
and  the  cathedral  towns.  But  they  are  old  seats  of 
learning  or  religion  which  the  landed  classes  love 
as  they  do  their  country  estates.  They  are  part  of 
their  class  traditions.  But  this  almost  exhausts  the 
list  of  beautiful  cities.  The  great  industrial  towns, 
in  which  one-half  of  the  British  people  dwell,  are 
the  ugliest  cities  of  the  world.  They  have  none  of 
the  charm  that  makes  men  love  cities.  Manchester, 
Sheffield,  Leeds,  Liverpool,  Bradford,  Belfast,  Bir- 
mingham, Glasgow,  there  is  little  in  any  of  them  to 
relieve  the  universal  monotony  of  street  and  archi- 
tecture. 

Public    and   private    architecture,    too,    is   bad. 


324  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

There  are  few  fine  buildings,  the  parks  are  inade- 
quate, there  is  little  provision  for  recreation  and 
pleasure.  Miles  of  brick  and  stone  cottages,  all 
much  alike,  line  the  streets.  There  is  little  of  that 
city  sense  so  universal  in  Germany. 

Architecture  in  Great  Britain  has  never  found 
expression  in  the  city.  It  has  never  awakened  the 
ambition  of  the  artist.  Nor  has  the  town  house  or 
the  business  block.  No  city  in  Great  Britain  has 
done  what  Budapest  has  done,  which  city  boldly  re- 
built itself  to  express  the  pride  and  ambition  of  the 
nation.  None  of  the  smaller  towns  are  built  as  are 
Diisseldorf,  Munich,  Frankfort,  or  a  score  of  other 
German  cities.  The  British  city  is  an  expression  of 
the  license  of  the  manufacturing  classes,  cramped 
and  confined  by  the  land  laws  and  the  system  of 
taxation  which  prevails. 

The  appearance  of  the  British  city  is  traceable  to 
the  fact  that  there  is  no  pressure  behind  the  land- 
owner to  improve  his  land,  while  the  tenant  has  no 
incentive  to  do  so.  For  the  improvements  all  pass 
to  the  landlord  without  compensation  on  the  expira- 
tion of  the  lease  and  must  be  made  as  the  landlord 
dictates.  Every  incentive  to  fine  buildings  or  the 
expression  of  private  taste  is  lacking  under  the  sys- 
tem of  land  tenure  and  taxation  which  prevails. 

In  addition  to  this,  the  aristocracy  is  a  country  aris- 
tocracy. Its  life  is  not  a  city  life,  as  it  is  in  Germany 
and  America.    The  aristocracy  lives  in  the  country 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  BRITISH  CITY    325 

from  its  rents,  and  only  goes  to  London  for  the  season. 
It  has  a  contempt  for  trade,  and  has  never  mixed 
with  commerce.  The  city  has  never  inspired  the 
architect  or  the  artist,  as  it  has  in  other  countries, 
for  the  art,  architecture,  and  education  of  a  nation 
always  reflect  the  interests  of  the  ruling  class. 

Because  of  this  divorce  of  the  landed  aristocracy 
from  the  city  Parliament  has  always  treated  it  as 
an  alien  thing,  much  as  it  treated  Ireland.  The 
church  has  a  more  important  place  in  its  affections, 
as  have  the  game  laws.  The  city  does  not  command 
the  thought  of  the  nation,  the  interest  of  the  press, 
or  of  literature.  Even  to-day,  with  the  city  the 
most  portentous  problem  of  the  empire,  the  litera- 
ture of  the  city  is  very  meagre.  Not  more  than  a 
half-dozen  books  of  recognized  authority  on  the  sub- 
ject have  been  written  by  Englishmen.  There  are 
few  exhaustive  statistical  studies,  year-books,  and 
scholarly  monographs  on  municipal  problems,  of 
which  there  is  such  a  quantity  in  Germany.  Nor  is 
municipal  administration  studied  in  the  colleges,  as 
it  is  with  us.  The  city  is  neglected  by  the  univer- 
sity, by  statesmen,  and  by  publicists.  It  does  not 
interest  the  ruling  class  or  the  public  opinion  made 
by  that  class. 

The  cities  of  Great  Britain  differ  from  the  cities 
of  America  and  Germany,  not  so  much  in  racial 
qualities  as  in  their  economic  foundations,  and  it  is 
these  economic  foundations  which  mould  the  mind 


326  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

of  the  voter.  The  local  taxes  are  very  heavy;  they 
amount  to  from  one-fourth  to  one-half  of  the  amount 
of  the  tenant's  rent.  And  the  voter  watches  every 
new  undertaking,  every  new  suggestion,  with  the 
fear  of  increased  taxes  always  in  his  mind.  Coun- 
c'ilmen  reflect  this  point  of  view,  for  they,  too,  are 
rate-payers.  They,  too,  think  in  terms  of  taxes. 
The  British  city  thinks  through  its  purse.  Its  ideals 
are  limited  by  this  fact.  This  explains  the  cheese- 
paring economies  of  the  council;  it  explains  its  un- 
willingness to  spend  for  anything  save  imperative 
needs.  The  movement  for  municipal  ownership 
sprang  largely  from  the  desire  of  the  rate-payers  to 
relieve  themselves  from  taxation  by  the  profits  of 
these  undertakings. 

A  second  explanation  of  the  psychology  of  the 
voter  is  the  extent  of  municipal  trading.  The  public 
utility  corporations  touch  the  community  in  count- 
less ways.  The  tramways  are  under  daily  inspec- 
tion. They  affect  the  comfort  of  the  community 
in  so  many  ways.  Through  municipal  ownership 
the  citizen  acquires  a  sense  of  the  dignity  of  the 
city.  He  is  a  stockholder  as  well  as  a  voter.  He  can- 
not afford  to  be  indifferent  to  municipal  elections; 
cannot  afford  to  permit  incompetent  or  dishonest 
men  to  be  chosen.  The  British  voter  thinks  in 
economic  rather  than  in  personal  terms.  This  ex- 
plains his  alertness,  his  intolerance,  and  his  insistence 
on  honesty  and  eflSciency. 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  BRITISH  CITY     327 

These  are  the  influences  that  make  the  British 
city  what  it  is.  It  is  moulded  by  class  laws  enacted 
by  Parliament  for  the  protection  of  the  pecuniary 
interests  of  its  members.  The  landed  classes  legis- 
late for  themselves  just  as  do  the  franchise-owners, 
railway  magnates,  tariff  interests,  and  mine-owners 
in  America.  And  they  sacrifice  the  city  in  every 
possible  way.    They  have  made  it  what  it  is. 


CHAPTER  XIX 
MUNICIPAL   OWNERSHIP   OF   THE   GAS   SUPPLY 

The  British  city  is  far  more  limited  in  its  activi- 
ties than  are  the  cities  of  Germany.  It  has  neither 
the  freedom  nor  the  social  vision  of  the  cities  of  the 
latter  country.  Municipal  trading,  as  it  is  called, 
is  almost  confined  to  street  railways,  gas,  water,  and 
electric-lighting  undertakings,  to  docks,  markets,  and 
pubhc  baths.  It  has  not  been  extended  to  pawn- 
shops and  savings  institutions,  to  land  speculation, 
to  the  many  institutions  of  social  service  which  char- 
acterize the  more  progressive  cities  of  Germany. 
There  have  been  many  housing  experiments,  but  they 
have  not  been  as  intelligently  planned  as  those  of 
the  latter  country,  nor  have  they  been  as  successful. 
They  have  been  directly  built  by  the  city,  but  have 
been  handicapped  by  a  heavy  initial  cost  for  the  slum 
clearances  which  they  involved. 

Ten  years  ago  municipal  trading  was  the  most  dis- 
cussed question  in  Great  Britain.  The  papers  were 
full  of  it.  There  were  innumerable  pamphlets  upon 
it.  But  trading  is  no  longer  a  debated  question.  It 
is  the  nearly  universal  policy  of  all  large  cities  and 
of  most  of  the  smaller  ones.    There  is  abundant  in- 

328 


MUNICIPAL  OWNERSHIP  OF  GAS  SUPPLY    329 

terest  in  the  subject,  but  little  controversy  over  it. 
The  cities  have  won  their  case  by  the  logic  of  finan- 
cial success.  They  have  fortified  their  position  by 
good  service,  by  cheap  rates,  and  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  economies.  Nowhere  is  there  any  suggestion 
to  return  to  private  management.  Water  plants 
have  been  widely  owned  by  the  cities  from  the  verj^ 
beginning,  as  they  are  with  us.  Two  hundred  and 
ninety-eight  local  authorities  own  gas  plants,  and 
this  includes  most  of  the  large  cities  with  the  ex- 
ception of  London,  Liverpool,  and  Sheffield.  The 
street-railway  and  electric-lighting  controversy  has 
been  the  most  acrimonious,  because  of  the  organized 
nature  of  the  electrical  business  and  the  universal 
movement  for  its  ownership.  But  even  this  con- 
troversy has  died  down.  It  had  little  effect  on  the 
spread  of  the  movement. 

Gas  has  not  been  as  generally  municipalized  as 
have  the  street-railway,  electric-lighting,  and  water 
undertakings.  The  water  supply  has  always  been 
looked  upon  as  a  proper  field  for  public  ownership, 
while  the  electric-lighting  plants  and  street  railways 
were  taken  over  at  the  time  of  the  introduction  of 
electricity  or  during  the  period  of  transition  from 
horse  to  electric  traction.  City  councils  saw  an  op- 
portunity to  make  money  from  these  enterprises. 
In  addition  the  private  gas  companies  were  en- 
trenched before  the  movement  for  public  ownership 
had  gained  much  headway.    Under  the  rules  of 


330 


EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 


valuation  provided  by  Parliament  for  purchase  the 
cities  are  required  to  pay  generously  for  the  fran- 
chise values  of  the  companies.  This,  along  with  the 
idea  that  electricity  would  eventually  supplant  gas, 
has  checked  the  municipalization  of  the  supply. 

The  following  is  a  condensed  statement  of  the 
public  and  private  gas  undertakings  in  the  United 
Kingdom  for  the  year  1910-11,  taken  from  the 
Municipal  Y ear-Book,  1912  (page  575),  and  com- 
piled from  official  returns  of  local  authorities  and 
private  companies: 


Local 
Authorities 

Private 
Companies 

Number  of  plants  owned  by. 
Capital  invested 

298 

$151,002,560 

$54,148,790 

$39,512,255 

72.86  per  cent. 

$14,636,535 

9^  per  cent. 

2,666,146 

60  cents 

511 

$460,965,955 

$102,232,190 

$76,544,640 

74.87  per  cent. 

$25,687,550 

5f/i  per  cent. 

3,751,703 

66  cents 

Total  receipts 

Operating  expenses 

Ratio  of  expense  to    gross 
earnings 

Net  revenue .        .  .          .      . 

Return  on  capital  invested 

Number  of  consumers 

Approximate  average  charge 
for  gas  per  1,000  cubic  feet 

The  total  receipts  of  the  public  plants  are  about 
one-half  the  receipts  of  the  private  companies,  while 
the  number  of  public  plants  is  somewhat  above  this 
percentage.  There  is  no  evidence  that  the  public 
plants  are  carelessly  managed  or  inefficient.  Rather 
the  reverse  is  true.    Municipal  plants  are  operated 


MUNICIPAL  OWNERSHIP  OF  GAS  SUPPLY    331 

at  a  lower  percentage  of  their  earnings  than  are  the 
private  ones,  the  percentage  of  the  former  being 
72.96,  while  in  the  private  plants  it  is  74.87.  This  is 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  public  plants  almost  al- 
ways pay  higher  wages,  give  shorter  hours,  and  allow 
holidays  and  other  privileges  not  accorded  by  the 
private  companies.  The  pubHc  plants,  too,  have 
only  one-fourth  of  the  total  capital  invested  in  the 
business,  but  serve  over  40  per  cent,  of  the  total 
consumers,  showing  that  the  cities  reach  a  larger 
number  of  potential  consumers  than  do  the  com- 
panies. This  is  done  by  encouraging  the  use  of  gas 
by  penny-in-the-slot  meters,  by  the  renting  and 
placing  of  gas-stoves  and  appliances,  and  the  stimu- 
lation of  its  use  in  the  interest  of  cleanliness  and 
convenience.  Cities  realize  the  value  of  light  as  a 
civilizing  agency,  and  encourage  it  in  every  possible 
way. 

In  addition  the  local  authorities  earn  a  larger  re- 
turn on  the  capital  invested  than  do  the  companies, 
showing  again  that  councilmen  are  good  business 
men,  better  even  than  the  directors  of  private  com- 
panies. In  1910-11  the  public  undertakings  earned 
9H  per  cent,  on  their  capital,  while  the  companies 
earned  only  5H  per  cent.  This  was  the  return  after 
the  payment  of  all  statutory  charges  for  deprecia- 
tion and  maintenance  as  well  as  taxes.  Finally,  the 
public  plants  sold  gas  at  an  average  of  60  cents  per 
1,000  cubic  feet,  while  the  private  companies  charged 


332 


EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 


an  average  of  66  cents,  or  10  per  cent,  higher  than 
the  municipal  authorities. 

Many  of  the  cities  sell  gas  below  this  figure,  as  ap- 
pears from  the  following  table,  the  rates  for  fuel  being 


CiTIEB 


Belfast 

Birmingham 

Bolton 

Bradford ... 
Burnley. ... 

Burton 

Coventry.  .  . 

Halifax 

Leeds 

Leicester . . .  , 
Manchester . 
Nottingham . 
Oldham..  . . , 
Rochdale .  . , 

Salford 

Stockport.  . , 


Net  Pbotits 


$202,000 

438,105 

148,685 

64,675 

75,045 

70,820 

93,160 

79,840 

90,505 

236,635 

361,625 

245,715 

92,400 

89,540 

167,890 

130,960 


Price  of  Gas  per 
1,000  Cubic  Fbet 


54 

42  to  56 

56 

50 

50 

52  to  56 

56 

50 

52 

56 

58  to  60 

52  to  56 

46 

50 

56 

60  to  68 


cents 


considerably  below  the  price  for  lighting.    Special 
prices  are  also  made  for  factory  uses. 

The  municipal  undertakings  earn  large  sums  in 
excess  of  operating  costs,  which  are  used  to  pay  off 
the  debt  of  the  plant,  for  the  making  of  extensions, 
and  for  the  relief  of  taxation.  The  total  contribu- 
tions of  all  the  municipal  plants  for  the  latter  pur- 
pose exceed  $2,000,000  a  year.  This  is  in  addition 
to  making  provision  for  the  sinking-fund  charge  to 
retire  the  debt,  for  depreciation  and  reserve,  and  for 
taxes,  which  the  public  as  well  as  the  private  com- 


MUNICIPAL  OWNERSHIP  OF  GAS  SUPPLY    333 

panies  are  required  by  law  to  pay.  The  net  profits, 
together  with  the  charges  for  gas  in  the  cities,  shown 
in  the  table  on  preceding  page,  are  obtained  from 
the  Municipal  Y ear-Book  for  the  Year  1912,  and  are 
taken  from  the  returns  to  the  Board  of  Trade  for 
the  year  1910-11. 


CHAPTER  XX 

MUNICIPAL  TRANSIT  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN 

Municipal  operation  of  the  street  railways  in 
Great  Britain  began  with  the  experiment  of  the  city 
of  Glasgow  in  1894.  It  has  since  been  adopted  by 
one  hundred  and  thirty-six  cities  and  local  authori- 
ties, while  forty  other  local  authorities  own  the 
tracks  but  lease  the  operation  to  a  private  com- 
pany. The  success  of  public  operation  is  now  too 
obvious  to  be  challenged,  and  practically  all  classes 
are  united  in  its  support.  Almost  the  only  opposi- 
tion comes  from  the  big  electrical  enterprises,  which 
are  seeking  to  retain  the  privileges  they  now  enjoy. 

Glasgow  was  the  first  large  city  to  both  own  and 
operate  its  street  railways.  It  undertook  operation 
after  an  unsatisfactory  experience  with  a  private 
company  which  had  operated  a  horse  line  under  a 
twenty-one  year  grant.  There  had  been  a  long  con- 
troversy between  the  company  and  its  employees,  in 
which  the  sympathy  of  the  community  was  with 
the  men.  This  controversy,  together  with  the  in- 
ability of  the  council  to  agree  on  terms  for  the 
renewal  of  the  grant,  led  the  city  to  municipalize 

334 


MUNICIPAL  TRANSIT  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN    335 

the  lines.  The  success  was  almost  immediate,  and 
other  cities  followed  the  example. 

The  capital  outlay  of  the  tramways  of  Glasgow 
now  amounts  to  $17,515,000,  and  the  total  receipts 
for  1911  were  $4,747,740.  The  operating  expenses 
were  56  per  cent,  of  the  earnings,  or  $2,665,895, 
leaving  a  profit  of  $2,081,541,  which  was  distributed 
as  follows:  for  interest  on  the  indebtedness,  $276,- 
290;  for  sinking  fund  to  repay  the  debt  at  maturity, 
$448,970;  for  depreciation  or  reserve,  $1,356,285; 
and  to  the  Common  Good,  a  fund  used  for  general 
municipal  purposes,  $343,390.  The  tramways  earned 
11.88  per  cent,  on  the  capital  invested,  at  an  average 
rate  of  fare  of  1.9  cents  or  less  than  40  per  cent,  of 
the  average  fare  paid  in  the  United  States.  They 
earned  $1,699,675  in  net  profits  after  paying  interest 
charges  and  sinking  fund,  which  was  contributed  to 
the  betterment  of  the  property  or  to  community  uses. 

The  zone  system  prevails  in  Glasgow,  as  it  does  all 
over  Great  Britain,  on  both  the  public  and  private 
lines.  There  is  a  halfpenny  or  one-cent  fare  for 
short  distances  of  about  half  a  mile.  For  the  year 
1911,  27.86  per  cent,  of  the  passengers  paid  but  one 
cent.  Those  paying  two  cents  formed  54.85  per  cent, 
of  the  total  number,  while  the  percentage  paying 
three  cents  was  8.15.  82.71  per  cent,  of  all  the  pas- 
sengers paid  two  cents  or  less. 

The  one-cent  fare  stimulates  traffic  in  the  centre 
of  the  city  and  is  a  great  convenience.    It  increases 


336  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

travel  when  traffic  is  light.  It  is  also  of  great  service 
to  working  girls  and  women  who  go  home  for  their 
lunches,  as  do  many  workingmen. 

In  1911;  237;967,307  passengers  used  the  tram- 
ways, and  paid  $4,747,740  in  fares.  In  America,  at 
the  prevailing  five-cent  fares,  these  passengers  would 
have  paid  $11,898,365.1 

On  the  following  page  is  a  condensed  statement  of 
the  operating  experiences  of  the  municipal  tramways 
of  four  cities.    The  reports  are  for  the  year  1911.^ 

Municipal  trading  cannot  be  challenged  on  its 
financial  showing.  Nor  can  it  be  claimed  that  the 
accounts  are  inaccurate.  Municipal  authorities  are 
required  to  keep  their  accounts  according  to  stand- 
ards fixed  by  the  local  government  board.  Annual 
returns  must  be  made  to  the  board  of  trade,  which 
is  a  portfolio  of  the  government,  presided  over  by  a 
member  of  the  cabinet.  The  reports  are  published 
each  year  and  are  subject  to  scrutiny,  while  the 
books  of  the  municipality  are  audited  by  the  central 
authorities  in  order  that  the  requirements  as  to  debt 
repajTnent,  depreciation,  and  reserve  may  be  prop- 
erly provided  for. 

The  extent  of  public  and  private  ownership  in 
Great  Britain,  as  well  as  the  relative  operations  of 
each,  are  indicated  by  the  following  table,  taken 

*  For  more  detailed  reports  of  Glasgow  and  other  British  cities,  see 
The  Municipal  Year-Book,  London,  which  gives  complete  munici- 
pal statistics  of  all  the  local  authorities  of  Great  Britain. 

»  The  Municipal  Year-Book,  1912,  pp.  593,  598,  602. 


MUNICIPAL  TRANSIT  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN    337 


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338 


EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 


from  the  Municipal  Year-Book  for  the  Year  1912. 
The  reports  cover  operations  for  the  fiscal  year  1910: 


Local 
Authorities 

Pbivate 
Companies 

Number   owned  and  actu- 
ally operated  ^ 

136 
$220,541,250 
$47,437,170 
$29,436,216 

62.05  per  cent. 
$18,000,955 

8H  per  cent. 
2,102,483,010 

2.1  cents 

138 

$147,780,580 

$17,952,335 

$11,769,970 

62.52  per  cent. 
$6,727,980 

4H  per  cent. 
675,445,481 

2.48  cents 

Capital  invested  

Gross  receipts 

Working  expenses 

Ratio  of  working  expenses  to 
gross  receipts 

Net  revenue 

Per  cent,  of  net  earnings  to 
capital  invested 

Passengers  carried 

Average  rate  of  fare  paid  per 
passenger 

The  comparison  of  pubhc  and  private  operation 
is  on  the  same  basis,  for  the  public  undertakings  are 
required  to  pay  taxes  the  same  as  a  private  company, 
as  well  as  to  provide  for  the  amortization  of  the 
debt  within  a  specified  number  of  years.  Out  of  the 
176  public  undertakings  (including  the  40  owned  but 
not  operated)  4  small  communities  show  a  deficit 
aggregating  in  all  $15,000.  These  deficits,  however, 
are  nominal,  and  of  course  include  the  charges  for 
taxes,  for  interest,  and  for  the  sinking  fund  to  repay 
indebtedness.  For  the  most  part  the  undertakings 
are  highly  profitable,  even  in  the  face  of  the  fact 
that  cities  pay  higher  wages  and  treat  their  employ- 

*  Cities  also  own  the  tracks  and  lease  the  operation  to  private 
companies  in  forty  other  cities  not  included  in  these  figures. 


MUNICIPAL  TRANSIT  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN    339 

ees  more  generously  than  do  the  private  companies. 
They  also  charge  lower  fares  and  spend  more  liber- 
ally for  the  comfort  and  convenience  of  the  public. 

Taking  the  United  Kingdom  as  a  whole,  the  aver- 
age fare  paid  on  the  municipally  owned  street  rail- 
ways was  2.1  cents,  as  against  an  average  fare  of 
2.48  cents  on  the  private  lines.  The  average  fare  in 
Scotland  on  the  public  lines  is  but  1.9  cents.  This 
difference  in  fares  alone  amounts  to  $7,989,434  on 
the  2,102,483,000  passengers  carried  by  all  the  mu- 
nicipal lines.  And  had  these  car  riders  paid  the  av- 
erage fare  of  5  cents  charged  in  America,  they  would 
have  paid  $105,124,150,  instead  of  $47,437,170,  which 
is  the  difference  between  a  5-cent  fare  and  a  2.1-cent 
fare,  the  average  fares  charged  in  America  and  by 
the  public  systems  in  Great  Britain. 

In  addition  to  the  saving  to  car  riders,  the  public 
tramways  contributed  $2,200,565  to  the  relief  of 
taxation.  They  also  repaid  loans  to  the  extent  of 
$5,893,875.  The  total  gain  to  the  public  from  these 
two  sources  alone  amounted  to  $8,093,540,  and  if  we 
add  the  contributions  to  the  relief  of  taxation,  the 
debt  repayment,  and  the  difference  in  fares  between 
the  public  and  private  corporations,  together,  we 
have  a  total  saving  to  the  communities  of  $16,- 
082,974  a  year  from  municipal  ownership  of  the  tram- 
ways. 

The  largest  contributions  to  the  relief  of  taxation 
were  $364,987  in  Manchester,  $275,000  in  Leeds, 


340  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

S265,000  in  Glasgow,  $160,000  in  Birmingham,  $135,- 
000  in  Liverpool,  and  $100,000  in  Nottingham  and 
Bradford.  In  Glasgow  the  profits  go  to  a  special 
fund  known  as  "  The  Common  Good." 

Ordinances  in  England,  as  in  Germany,  specifically 
prohibit  overcrowding.  In  Liverpool  68  per  cent, 
additional  cars  are  added  during  the  rush  hours. 
In  Birmingham  standing  is  prohibited.  In  Leeds 
the  service  is  increased  by  30  per  cent,  in  the  morn- 
ing, at  noon,  and  in  the  evening.  Many  cities  pro- 
vide reduced  fares  mornings  and  evenings.  In  Man- 
chester 3  and  4  cent  fares  are  reduced  to  2  cents,  5 
and  6  cent  fares  to  3  cents,  and  7  and  8  cent  fares 
to  4  cents.  In  Leeds  four-mile  tickets  are  sold  for  2 
cents. 

Bradford  carries  on  a  municipal  express  and  de- 
livery service  for  the  transportation  of  packages. 
Delivery  stamps  are  sold  to  be  affixed  to  parcels  the 
same  as  postage-stamps.  Motor  vans  collect  the 
parcels  from  outlying  stations  and  bring  them  to 
the  centre  of  the  city.  At  the  terminals  of  each 
tramway  route  a  uniformed  agent  collects  and  de- 
livers the  parcels.  Parcels  are  despatched  from  the 
central  oflices  in  bags  and  bundles,  and  are  placed 
in  the  vestibule  behind  the  motorman.  The  pack- 
ages are  then  delivered  at  the  various  substations, 
of  which  there  are  from  twenty  to  thirty,  for  distri- 
bution throughout  the  city.  The  rates  of  charges 
for  carriage  are  as  follows:    For  packages  up  to  7 


MUNICIPAL  TRANSIT  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN    341 

poundS;  4  cents;  from  7  to  14  pounds,  6  cents;  from 
14  to  28  pounds,  8  cents;  and  from  28  to  56  pounds, 
10  cents.  The  entire  investment  in  the  parcels  de- 
livery system  is  but  $17,033,  including  the  cost  of  5 
motor  vans,  while  the  working  force  consists  of  52 
boys,  who  attend  to  the  collection  and  delivery  of 
parcels,  and  16  men,  including  the  clerks,  motor  driv- 
ers, and  inspectors.  The  total  cost  of  the  service  in 
1910  was  $31,284,  and  the  receipts  were  $39,757. 
During  the  year  1910,  675,719  parcels  were  carried. 

The  introduction  of  the  tramway  express  has  en- 
abled many  shopkeepers  to  dispense  with  errand- 
boys  and  delivery  service,  as  they  secure  a  cheaper 
and  much  quicker  delivery  by  this  process.  The 
congestion  on  the  streets  is  also  reduced,  and  the 
unnecessary  waste  involved  in  countless  delivery 
wagons  traversing  the  same  routes. 

If  one  can  accept  the  opinions  of  officials  and  citi- 
zens, the  financial  gains  from  public  ownership  are 
of  secondary  importance  to  the  social  advantages 
which  have  followed.  Mr.  John  Burns  asserts  that 
the  renaissance  of  municipal  administration  in  Great 
Britain  is  the  result  of  public  trading,  and  especially 
of  the  municipalization  of  street  railways.  Cer- 
tainly one  finds  wide-spread  interest  in  these  under- 
takings. The  transfer  of  a  tram-line  to  the  city  is 
made  a  gala  day.  The  cars  are  decorated  with  bunt- 
ing and  flowers;  city  officials  declare  a  holiday,  and 
the  whole  community  unites  in  rejoicing  on  taking 


342  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

possession  of  the  property.  The  accounts  are  care- 
fully scrutinized  by  the  press  and  the  public.  Com- 
parisons are  made  with  the  equipment  and  earnings 
of  other  towns,  while  members  of  the  council  seek  a 
place  on  the  tramway  committee  because  of  the  op- 
portunity it  offers  to  make  a  reputation  or  perform 
a  service.  As  a  result,  the  tramways  are  probably 
the  most  efficient  department  of  the  city.  They  are 
under  such  constant  oversight  by  the  public  that 
they  have  to  be.  But  even  aside  from  this,  officials 
and  employees  seem  animated  by  a  pride  in  their 
work,  by  an  esprit  de  corps  that  extends  to  all  the 
people. 

The  publicly  owned  tramways  of  Glasgow,  Man- 
chester, Liverpool,  and  London  are  the  best,  from 
every  point  of  view,  of  any  street-railway  lines  that 
I  have  ever  seen.  They  are  far  in  advance  of  the 
private  lines  in  America,  and  superior  to  any  in 
Germany,  with  the  possible  exception  of  one  or  two 
cities.  Tracks  are  laid  on  permanent  concrete  foun- 
dations, so  that  there  is  scarcely  any  noise.  Cars  are 
clean,  fresh  with  paint,  and  very  comfortable.  The 
double-decker  type  of  car  is  universally  used,  the 
upper  deck  being  provided  with  windows  which  can 
be  closed  in  inclement  weather.  Here  smoking  is 
permitted.  The  upper  decks  are  very  popular  and 
are  widely  used  for  pleasure-riding. 

The  condition  of  the  employees  has  also  been  im- 
proved.  A  week's  holiday  on  full  pay  is  usually  given 


MUNICIPAL  TRANSIT  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN    343 

the  men,  while  free  uniforms  and  pensions  and  other 
benefits  are  provided.  There  have  been  few  labor 
controversies,  although  the  cities  do  not  discourage 
organization  on  the  part  of  the  men.  Troubles 
are  usually  adjusted  by  arbitration.  The  employees 
seem  to  appreciate  that  favorable  public  opinion  is 
necessary  to  a  successful  strike,  and  as  the  public 
appreciates  that  the  fares  they  pay  and  the  profits 
of  the  lines  depend  upon  economies  in  operation,  they 
are  not  inclined  to  be  indifferent  to  the  wage-scale. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  is  no  inclination  to  insist 
on  low  wages  or  long  hours  of  employment.  English 
cities  have  generally  established  the  "fair  wage"  in 
all  departments,  the  scale  being  considerably  above 
that  paid  by  private  employers. 

Probably  the  greatest  gain  has  come  from  an  awak- 
ened interest  in  the  city;  a  feeling  of  affection  that 
springs  from  the  many  things  the  city  does.  It  is 
claimed  that  those  cities  are  best  governed  that  do 
the  most  things  for  the  people,  which  is  a  reversal  of 
the  idea  that  that  government  is  the  best  that  does 
the  least.  The  council  attracts  a  better  type  of  men. 
There  is  no  powerful  class  that  desires  to  control  the 
administration  for  its  own  enrichment.  The  press 
is  free  as  is  public  opinion.  There  is  none  of  that 
class  division  that  divorces  the  best  talent  of  the 
American  cities  from  participation  in  city  politics 
because  of  the  conflict  of  pecuniary  and  civic  inter- 
ests.   All  men  are  free  to  want  the  best  and  to  work 


344  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

for  the  best,  while  the  professional  and  business 
classes,  which  are  excluded  from  politics  in  America 
by  reason  of  their  affiliation  with  the  public  service 
corporations,  are  free  to  enter  the  council  without 
fear  of  their  motives  being  questioned.  None  of  the 
objections  urged  against  municipal  ownership  by  the 
press  of  the  United  States  have  materialized  in  either 
Great  Britain  or  Germany,  and  in  the  former  coun- 
try, at  least,  the  official  who  would  propose  a  return 
to  private  management  would  probably  not  survive 
the  next  election. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE  AMERICAN  AND  EUROPEAN  CITY— 
A  COMPARISON 

The  thing  that  distinguishes  the  cities  of  the  Old 
World  from  those  of  the  New  is  a  difference  in  point . 
of  view.  European  cities  have  a  highly  developed 
community  sense.  The  rights  of  the  public  are  su- 
perior to  the  rights  of  the  individual.  When  a  con- 
flict arises,  the  community  is  paramount.  In  addi- 
tion the  city  is  a  consciously  developing  organism 
with  a  growing  life  of  its  own.  It  is  a  difference  in 
vision,  in  dignity,  in  sovereignty,  as  well  as  in  hon- 
esty and  efficiency  that  differentiates  the  cities  of 
the  Old  World  from  those  of  the  New.  This  is  par- 
ticularly true  on  the  Continent. 

We  in  America  build  cities  much  as  our  grand- 
fathers carried  on  industry.  Each  individual  follows 
his  fancy  without  regard  to  his  neighbors.  One  man 
erects  an  apartment-house  alongside  of  a  beautiful 
home.  Another  builds  a  garage,  a  saloon,  or  a  liv- 
ery-stable in  the  heart  of  the  residence  district. 
We  awake  in  the  morning  to  find  a  noisy  factory  in 
course  of  erection,  and  at  once  all  values  in  the 

345 


346  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

neighborhood  go  tumbling,  and  an  exodus  to  a  new 
region  begins.  The  height,  style,  and  location  of 
buildings  are  uncontrolled,  while  the  harmony  of  the 
community  is  disfigured  by  bill-boards,  by  smoke, 
and  by  other  private  nuisances.  There  is  no  sense 
of  unity,  of  permanence,  of  the  rights  of  the  whole 
community.  In  addition,  the  speculator  lays  out 
his  land  in  lots  of  any  size  and  upon  streets  of  his 
own  designing,  in  order  that  he  may  sell  his  property 
as  quickly  as  possible  and  move  on  to  another  field 
of  exploitation.  Our  cities  give  little  thought  to 
streets;  there  is  little  attempt  to  fix  their  style  or 
character.  They  are  neglected,  as  of  no  material 
concern  to  the  community.  Only  recently  have 
public  buildings  been  located  with  any  thought  of 
the  future,  while  only  rarely  have  sites  been  selected 
with  reference  to  artistic  effect.  Railways,  factories, 
and  warehouses  are  permitted  to  appropriate  river 
and  water  fronts  and  exclude  the  rest  of  the  com- 
munity from  access  to  them. 

Individual  license  has  run  riot  in  our  cities  in  a 
physical  as  well  as  a  political  way,  and  the  cost  to 
the  present  and  the  future  is  colossal.  Rarely  have 
officials  appreciated  the  influence  of  transit  on  the 
distribution  of  population,  or  the  cost  of  private 
ownership  to  the  health,  comfort,  and  convenience 
of  the  people.  We  fail  to  appreciate  that  the  growth 
of  a  city  demands  the  pubHc  ownership  of  many 
activities  which,  under  earlier  conditions,  could  with 


THE  AMERICAN  AND  EUROPEAN  CITY    347 

safety  be  left  in  private  hands.  Our  cities  are  built 
for  the  day  only. 

The  British  city  has  suffered  from  the  same  license. 
It,  too,  has  been  sacrificed  to  the  unrestrained  liberty 
of  the  land-owning  classes  and  the  privileges  they 
enjoy.  There  has  been  little  ofl^icial  control  of  pri- 
vate property,  and  up  to  very  recently  little  attempt 
to  plan  the  site  on  which  the  city  is  built  or  to  antici- 
pate its  growth  in  a  far-sighted  way. 

The  cities  of  the  Continent,  and  especially  those 
of  Germany,  are  being  built  as  a  unit.  Officials  and 
citizens  think  in  different  terms  than  do  our  own. 
We  deny  the  city  power.  The  Germans  endow  it 
with  only  less  authority  than  the  empire  itself.  With 
them  cities  are  being  built  like  a  world's  fair,  with 
us  as  our  grandfathers  built  log  cabins  centuries  ago. 
They  accept  the  state  socialism  of  community  well- 
being;  we,  the  individualism  of  laissez-faire.  Ger- 
many is  constantly  substituting  the  community  for 
the  private  trader;  we  intrust  almost  everything  to 
commerce.  The  Germans  think  in  terms  of  public 
service,  we  in  terms  of  private  right.  The  political 
psychology  of  Germany  is  that  of  wider  freedom  in- 
sured through  pubHc  control,  ours  is  that  of  individ- 
ualism free  to  follow  its  own  instincts  regardless  of 
its  cost  to  the  community. 

This  difference  in  vision  is  reflected  by  councilmen 
and  citizens,  by  pubUc  opinion  and  the  press,  by 
legislatures  and  state  officials.    The  psychology  of 


348  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

the  two  countries  differs  diametrically  in  these  re- 
spects. 

The  machinery  of  administration  differs  almost  as 
radically  as  do  the  ideals  of  the  people.  All  over 
Europe  the  city  is  governed  by  experts  selected  with- 
out regard  to  party  and  with  special  training  for  the 
posts  they  occupy.  Nowhere  is  the  city  the  pawn 
of  parties  or  of  business  interests.  Municipal  ad- 
ministration is  treated  as  a  technical  profession 
which  requires  long  training  and  permanent  tenure 
for  the  solution  of  its  problems.  The  city  is  a  great 
business  corporation  with  a  social  as  well  as  a  polit- 
ical mission  to  perform. 

Very  different  things,  too,  are  expected  of  officials 
in  the  American  and  European  city.  The  best 
mayors  in  this  country  have  been  political  crusaders, 
who  promoted  issues  before  the  people,  often  at  great 
cost  to  themselves.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  we 
have  no  other  way  of  settling  controversial  ques- 
tions. We  have  to  embody  them  in  a  candidate. 
The  relation  of  the  city  to  the  public  service  cor- 
poration, the  question  of  municipal  ownership  or 
regulation,  makes  the  crusader  type  of  mayor  inevi- 
table, for  no  other  way  exists  to  settle  these  ques- 
tions. The  people  are  so  nearly  powerless  that  it  is 
only  through  a  leader  that  they  can  protect  them- 
selves from  exploitation.  And  not  until  the  city  is 
equipped  with  home  rule,  with  the  initiative  and 
referendum,  with  power  to  frame  policies  and  deter- 


THE  AMERICAN  AND  EUROPEAN  CITY    349 

mine  how  great  questions  shall  be  settled,  will  it  be 
possible  to  do  away  with  the  crusader  type  and  intro- 
duce the  expert  into  the  machinery  of  administration. 

Municipal  administration  is  still  further  confused 
by  the  excise,  saloon,  and  vice  questions.  Legis- 
latures enact  sumptuary  laws  which  mayors  are 
bound  to  enforce,  and  about  the  propriety  of  which 
there  is  wide  difference  of  opinion.  Shall  amuse- 
ments be  permitted  and  the  saloon  be  open  on  Sun- 
day? Shall  we  have  a  liberal  administration  of  the 
excise  laws,  or  shall  they  be  vigorously  enforced? 
These  are  problems  which  every  candidate  for  mayor 
must  face,  not  only  during  his  campaign  but  during 
his  administration  as  well.  It  is  such  issues  as  these, 
which  have  but  little  to  do  with  the  question  of 
efficient  administration,  that  make  it  difficult  to 
elect  or  retain  the  permanent  trained  official  in  our 
cities. 

This  problem  is  further  disturbed  by  the  large 
foreign-born  population  which  cannot  adjust  itself 
to  Anglo-Saxon  ideas  of  sumptuary  legislation.  It 
has  always  looked  upon  the  restaurant  as  a  perfectly 
natural  place  to  go.  It  sees  no  more  harm  in  the 
sale  of  beer  than  in  the  sale  of  groceries,  and  it  can- 
not understand  the  point  of  view  that  makes  these 
things  illegitimate.  This  element  of  the  population 
is  perfectly  honest  in  its  convictions,  and,  being  en- 
dowed with  the  ballot,  it  uses  it  just  as  do  all  other 
classes,  to  enforce  its  convictions.    Through  the  in- 


350  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

jection  of  this  issue  into  politics  the  foreign-born 
along  with  the  saloon-keeper  are  lured  into  politics, 
and  are  organized  with  other  agencies  seeking  privi- 
leges or  protection  from  the  community. 

From  these  issues  the  European  city  is  free.  The 
saloon  is  not  treated  as  an  evil  in  itself,  while  sumpt- 
uary laws  directed  against  gambling  and  the  excise 
question  do  not  confuse  local  elections  or  adminis- 
trations. The  city  is  free  to  deal  with  them  as  it 
wills,  and  to  adjust  its  administration  to  the  pre- 
vailing opinion  of  the  community.  It  has  home  rule 
in  these  as  in  other  local  questions.  In  consequence 
the  city  is  able  to  concentrate  its  mind  on  other  and 
more  important  issues. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  assume  that  there  is  less 
honesty  with  us  than  there  is  in  England  or  Ger- 
many, or  that  our  people  are  incompetent.  Our 
failure  to  develop  efficiency  is  not  due  to  the  voter 
so  much  as  to  this  confusion  of  issues  and  the  ac- 
tivity of  the  public  service  corporations  coupled 
with  the  State  laws  directed  against  the  saloon, 
Sunday  amusements,  vice,  and  gambling.  Nor  is 
this  all.  Our  cities  have  a  heavy  burden  to  carry 
in  the  complicated  machinery  which  has  been  pro- 
vided for  registermg  the  people's  will.  When  one 
compares  the  simple  charters  of  the  German  and  the 
British  city  with  those  of  our  own,  one  finds  in  this 
alone  an  adequate  explanation  of  our  failures.  In- 
stead of  two  or  three  candidates  and  a  single  elective 


THE  AMERICAN  AND  EUROPEAN  CITY    351 

office,  with  a  direct  line  of  vision  between  the  voter 
and  his  representative,  the  voter  in  America  has  to 
make  his  way  through  a  labyrinth  of  caucuses,  pri- 
maries, and  conventions  before  he  has  even  a  chance 
to  vote  for  a  candidate.  The  election  is  scarcely  less 
complicated.  The  voter  is  confined  in  his  choice  to 
partisan  nominees,  all  of  whom  are  frequently  selected 
for  him  by  the  same  interests.  In  addition  he  is  con- 
fronted with  a  blanket-ballot  many  feet  in  length, 
containing  the  names  of  nominees  for  every  conceiv- 
able office,  from  governor  to  constable.  He  must  pick 
out  a  candidate  for  mayor,  solicitor,  treasurer,  auditor, 
and  councilmen,  often  in  addition  to  State  and  Federal 
nominees.  In  a  minute's  time  he  is  expected  to  work 
out  a  combination  that  will  be  both  efficient  and 
honest.  Of  course  the  voter  is  helpless.  The  whole 
proceeding  is  a  farce,  and  is  designed  to  be.  The 
long  ballot,  the  confusion  of  issues,  the  convention, 
primary,  and  caucus,  are  all  planned  to  make  popu- 
lar government  impossible  and  to  turn  the  city  over 
to  the  boss  and  the  special  interests  which  the  boss 
represents.  Only  recently  have  our  charters  been 
framed  for  simplicity  and  responsibility.  Herein,  of 
itself,  is  an  adequate  explanation  of  the  failures  of 
our  cities. 

The  administrative  machinery  of  the  cities  of 
America  and  Europe  differs  again  in  the  ideals  which 
underlie  it.  We  assume  that  every  official  must 
have  some  other  official  to  watch  him  and  overrule 


352  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

him  if  necessary.  The  mayor  has  a  veto  on  the 
council,  the  legislature  on  both,  while  the  courts  are 
a  third  check  to  hasty  or  ill-considered  action.  There 
are  checks  and  balances,  hurdles  and  obstacles,  all 
along  the  line  of  action.  Private  business  would  go 
into  bankruptcy  if  compelled  to  work  with  such  in- 
struments as  we  have  provided  for  city,  State,  and 
nation.  We  have  adjusted  everything  for  dead-lock, 
for  delay,  for  conflict,  as  though  no  one  was  to  be 
trusted,  and  all  officials  were  to  be  kept  down  to 
the  dead-level  of  the  least  enlightened  or  most  reac- 
tionary member  of  the  trinity,  be  it  the  legislature, 
the  executive,  or  a  judge.  There  is  little  to  appeal 
to  the  man  of  courage;  little  to  attract  the  man  of 
power.  City  government  is  in  the  nature  of  a  hurdle- 
race,  in  which  the  idea  of  efficiency  is  to  increase  the 
number  of  obstacles  to  the  point  that  will  permit  of 
the  minimum  of  movement  by  the  participants. 

European  administration  has  not  fallen  into  this 
error.  It  is  not  an  obstacle  race.  It  is  easy  for  a 
man  to  distinguish  himself,  easy  for  the  council  to 
deliberate,  and,  when  a  decision  has  been  reached, 
easy  to  carry  the  decision  into  execution.  This  has 
a  stimulating  psychological  effect.  It  attracts  men 
of  ability  and  ambition  into  politics,  for  the  official 
is  not  subject  to  the  veto  of  half  a  dozen  powers  at 
every  turn  he  makes. 

We  are  rapidly  abandoning  the  idea  of  checks  and 
balances  in  our  cities,  and  shall  have  to  abandon  it 


THE  AMERICAN  AND  EUROPEAN  CITY    353 

in  State  and  National  Government  as  well.  Those 
States  that  have  really  achieved  efficiency  are  the 
ones  where  a  strong  executive  has  overridden  the 
theory  of  the  constitution.  For  the  theory  of  our 
constitutions  has  broken  down.  It  never  was  a  wise, 
never  was  a  workable  theory.  And  it  never  has  been 
copied  by  any  other  people  in  the  century  that  has 
intervened  since  its  adoption.  The  Federal  Con- 
stitution, copied  by  our  cities,  with  its  divided  re- 
sponsibilities and  checks  and  balances,  was  designed 
to  block  popular  government  and  check  the  ex- 
pression of  the  popular  will. 

It  is  not  to  be  inferred  that  the  German  or  Eng- 
lish political  machinery  should  be  copied  in  this 
country.  Undoubtedly  city  administration  should 
be  intrusted  to  experts  trained  in  the  many  problems 
with  which  the  modern  city  is  confronted.  Un- 
doubtedly, too,  there  should  be  permanence  and  the 
exclusion  of  partisanship  from  elections.  The  civil 
service  should  be  protected  from  the  spoils  system, 
and  the  city  be  treated  as  a  social  and  business 
agency.  But  the  large  council,  acting  through  com- 
mittees, as  in  Great  Britain,  or  the  two-chambered 
organization,  consisting  of  the  council  and  the  magis- 
trat  in  Germany,  are  not  the  only  means  for  achiev- 
ing these  ends.  If  we  were  able  to  exclude  the  con- 
troversial questions  which  convert  our  cities  into 
armed  camps,  it  would  be  possible  to  have  perma- 
nence in  tenure  and  at  the  same  time  secure  the  ex- 


354  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

pert  without  violent  departure  from  either  the  fed- 
eral plan,  which  prevails  in  most  of  our  large  cities, 
or  the  commission  plan,  which  has  been  adopted  by 
nearly  two  hundred  smaller  cities. 

Of  even  more  importance  are  the  methods  of  nomi- 
nation and  election.  For  it  is  not  through  the  charter 
so  much  as  through  the  long  partisan  ballot  and  the 
making  of  nominations  by  conventions,  that  privilege 
maintains  its  control.  Were  the  party  emblem  abol- 
ished, were  nominations  made  by  petition,  and  the 
number  of  elective  officials  reduced  to  those  who 
control  policies,  city  administration  would  un- 
doubtedly leap  to  a  higher  level,  as  has  almost  al- 
ways happened  where  these  reforms  have  been 
adopted.  And  were  elections  free  from  the  excise 
and  Sunday-closing  questions,  and  did  our  cities  own 
the  public  utility  corporations  which  now  divide 
them  into  armed  camps,  the  municipalities  of  Amer- 
ica would  adjust  administration  to  business  methods, 
and  find  means  for  introducing  the  permanent  ex- 
pert official  into  the  government.  For  improve- 
ment in  official  personnel  is  not  withheld  from  us 
so  much  by  the  un\\dllingness  of  the  people  to  appre- 
ciate the  value  of  talent  as  by  the  extraneous  influ- 
ences which  control  our  cities  for  their  own  profit, 
and  which  have  thus  far  prevented  reforms  in  the 
machinery  of  administration  as  well  as  in  the  activi- 
ties which  the  city  may  assume. 

And  back  of  all  other  municipal  needs  is  that  of 


THE  AMERICAN  AND  EUROPEAN  CITY    355 

freedom,  of  local  home  rule.  For  in  the  long  run 
the  attitude  of  mind  of  the  voter  is  moulded  by  the 
power  he  enjoys  and  the  possibility  of  working  out 
his  city's  destiny  in  its  own  way.  This  is  a  law  of 
human  psychology.  It  is  a  law  of  biology  as  well. 
Development  can  only  come  through  freedom;  hu- 
man progress  can  only  come  through  experiment. 
Society  is  bound  to  be  static  if  controlled  by  inflex- 
ible laws.  It  cannot  be  otherwise.  This  is  as  true 
of  politics  as  it  is  of  industry.  And  American  prog- 
gress  in  industry  is  the  product  of  liberty.  The 
same  progress  is  only  possible  in  politics  when  the 
city  is  free  to  call  forth  the  talent  of  its  citizens  and 
to  use  that  talent  as  the  particular  needs  of  the 
community  suggest. 

The  German  and  British  cities  differ  from  our  own 
in  yet  another  way.  But  little  has  been  written  on 
the  subject  of  political  psychology  and  but  little  is 
really  known.  Yet  the  psychology  of  the  voter  ex- 
plains the  city.  It  determines  how  men  think  and 
how  they  vote.  One  has  only  to  talk  with  the  citi- 
zens of  a  German  or  a  British  city  to  find  a  very  dif- 
ferent psychology  from  that  which  prevails  in  Amer- 
ica, and  this  is  not  traceable  to  personal  or  ethnic 
causes  so  much  as  to  the  relation  of  the  city  to  the 
people. 

In  America  there  is  no  strong  economic  nexus  be- 
tween the  voter  and  the  official,  between  the  citizen 
and  the  city.    There  is  little  to  bring  home  to  the 


356  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

people  the  necessity  for  good  government.  In  Eu- 
rope the  reverse  is  true.  Even  the  poorest  feels  that 
the  city  is  an  important  thing  in  his  life;  so  impor- 
tant, in  fact,  that  he  must,  in  self-protection,  concern 
himself  about  the  city.  In  England,  as  we  have  seen, 
local  taxes  are  levied  on  the  tenant,  rather  than  on 
property.  The  voter  is  always  a  taxpayer,  and  the 
taxpayer  is  a  voter.  He  measures  the  honesty  and 
efficiency  of  the  city  every  year  in  the  bill  which  he 
receives  for  the  support  of  the  government.  Even 
if  he  is  a  clerk  or  a  workingman,  he  is  conscious  of 
the  cost  of  the  city  to  him.  In  Germany  local  taxes 
are  levied  upon  incomes,  business,  and  land,  the 
income  tax  being  assessed  against  those  who  have 
incomes  in  excess  of  approximately  $225.  In  Amer- 
ica, on  the  other  hand,  local  taxes  are  collected  from 
real  estate,  personal  property,  and  licenses.  Three- 
fourths  of  our  voters  are  tenants.  They  are  not 
conscious  that  they  are  taxpayers  and  in  conse- 
quence feel  little  sense  of  concern  for  the  actions 
of  their  officials.  They  do  not  think  in  economic 
terms.  They  lack  the  rate-payer's  interest  of  Great 
Britain  and  Germany.  There  is  no  material  appeal 
to  them  when  they  go  to  the  polls. 

In  addition,  the  American  city  owns  so  few  things 
and  does  so  little  for  the  people  that  it  fails  to  awaken 
their  pride  or  affection.  Municipal  activities  are, 
for  the  most  part,  limited  to  the  exercise  of  the  po- 
lice power  in  its  various  manifestations.     Municipal 


THE  AMERICAN  AND  EUROPEAN  CITY    357 

ownership  has  much  to  do  with  the  attitude  of  the 
voter  in  England  and  Germany.  It  explains  the 
psychology  of  the  citizen.  The  bigness  of  the  city, 
the  services  it  renders,  its  intimate  touch  with  all 
classes,  awaken  their  interest  and  affection.  People 
are  interested  in  the  city  because  the  city  is  interested 
in  them.  There  is  action  and  reaction.  This  is  the 
great  gain  from  municipal  ownership,  especially  the 
ownership  of  the  things  that  touch  every  citizen  in 
an  intimate  way,  as  do  the  street  railways.  And  ex- 
perience shows  that  it  is  more  important  for  the 
city  to  own  its  means  of  transit  than  its  water,  gas, 
or  electricity  supply.  For  the  street  railways  are 
under  daily,  momentary  inspection.  They  are  always 
on  view.  It  would  be  almost  impossible  for  a  city 
to  manage  its  street  railways  badly,  to  sacrifice  ser- 
vice to  spoils,  to  crowd  passengers,  or  to  tolerate  the 
dirty,  noisy  cars  with  which  we  are  compelled  to  be 
content.  There  would  be  too  great  an  outcry  against 
it.    It  would  involve  too  universal  discomfort. 

In  addition  to  this,  the  very  bigness  of  the  Eu- 
ropean city  attracts  big  men  to  the  council.  It  is  a 
distinction  to  be  intrusted  with  the  control  of  the 
most  important  corporation  in  the  community,  to 
handle  millions,  to  direct  construction  work,  to  be 
of  commanding  service.  Men  of  talent  are  allured 
by  such  opportunities — opportunities  which  do  not 
exist  in  the  American  city.  With  us  there  is  little 
to  engage  the  imagination  or  the  ability  of  a  man  of 


358  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

talent.  We  have  reversed  the  natural  order  of  things 
in  this  country.  We  say  that  municipal  ownership 
must  wait  on  honesty  and  efficiency.  Rather  we 
should  say  that  honesty  and  efficiency  will  be  brought 
in  with  municipal  ownership;  that  only  through 
making  the  city  an  important  thing  will  it  awaken 
interest  and  enthusiasm. 

Moreover,  only  through  municipal  ownership  can 
we  put  an  end  to  the  class  conflict  that  now  aligns 
the  privileged  few  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  great 
mass  of  the  people  on  the  other.  On  the  one  hand 
are  the  banks,  the  business  and  professional  men, 
the  members  of  clubs,  and  the  agencies  of  public 
opinion,  almost  all  united  against  good  government 
when  good  government  threatens  their  privileges. 
It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  in  almost  every  city 
in  the  land  the  business  interests  have  controlled 
elections,  they  have  moulded  policies,  and  have  made 
the  American  city  the  thing  it  is  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century. 

The  mind  of  the  man  behind  the  ballot  in  Ger- 
many, Great  Britain,  and  America  is  what  it  is  be- 
cause of  economic  rather  than  personal  or  ethnical 
reasons.  There  is  but  little  difference  in  human  nat- 
ure; little  difference  in  the  desire  of  people  for  the 
good  rather  than  the  bad.  But  people  think  in  eco- 
nomic terms.  Their  welfare  and  the  taxes  they  pay 
are  the  nerve-centres  to  which  the  political  mind  re- 
sponds.    The  English  voter  is  a  rate-payer  first  and 


THE  AMERICAN  AND  EUROPEAN  CITY    359 

a  fragmentary  owner  of  an  immense  amount  of  prop- 
erty second.  The  same  is  true  in  Germany.  And 
in  both  countries  the  renaissance  in  municipal  life 
came  in  with  the  larger  social  vision  that  began  with 
the  municipal  ownership  of  the  public  utilities — a 
movement  that  has  been  widening  ever  since  into 
new  fields  of  action.  The  voters  in  these  countries 
select  officials  with  whom  they  can  trust  their  eco- 
nomic interests.  And  the  officials  reflect  the  needs 
of  the  man  in  the  street.  For  they,  too,  are  tax- 
payers and  municipal  property-owners. 

In  the  American  city  there  is  no  such  stimulus. 
The  average  man  is  not  conscious  of  his  material  in- 
terest in  the  community.  The  city  does  so  few  things 
that  it  fails  to  awaken  his  pride.  He  is  a  member 
of  a  corporation  so  shorn  of  power  by  the  State,  so 
limited  in  its  possibilities  of  good,  so  subject  to  the 
control  of  business,  the  saloon,  vice,  and  privileged 
interests,  that  the  natural  political  instincts  of  the 
voter  have  but  little  chance  to  develop. 

In  this  comparison  of  cities  it  should  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  European  city  is  far  from  democratic. 
Officials  consult  the  voters  but  little,  and  manage 
the  city  in  a  rather  autocratic  way.  The  mass  of 
the  people  participate  but  little  in  the  making  of 
opinion  or  the  framing  of  policies.  This  is  less  true 
in  Great  Britain  than  it  is  on  the  Continent,  but 
even  in  the  former  country  the  rate-payers,  suffrage, 
the  method  of  local  taxation,  and  the  ascendency  of 


360  EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK 

the  middle  classes  and  small  shopkeeper  give  a 
quality  to  administration  that  is  far  from  democratic. 

The  achievements  of  the  American  city  are  of  the 
people.  They  are  the  slow  up-workings  of  a  mii- 
versal  movement.  We  are  raising  a  whole  people 
to  the  art  of  self-government.  We  are  doing  very 
different  things  in  this  country;  we  are  animated  by 
different  motives;  we  are  living  in  different  ages. 
The  cry  of  the  almost  disfranchised  German  is  for 
democracy;  of  the  British  rate-payer  for  the  Ameri- 
can system  of  local  taxation  and  more  generous  con- 
cern for  sweetness  and  light.  The  cry  of  the  Ameri- 
can city  is  for  the  things  the  German  and  English 
cities  have  already  achieved. 

It  should  not  be  forgotten,  too,  that  there  are 
many  things  already  better  done  by  the  American 
city  than  by  any  cities  in  the  world.  There  are 
realms  of  administration  in  which  we  excel.  Our 
system  of  local  taxation  is  more  just  than  that  of 
any  other  country.  It  is  better  than  the  German 
system,  and  is  a  generation  in  advance  of  those  of 
Great  Britain  or  the  Latin  countries.  Our  schools 
are  superior  to  those  of  most  countries,  and  are  com- 
parable to  those  of  any.  The  American  parks  and 
playgrounds,  the  provision  for  out-of-door  recrea- 
tion and  for  the  poor,  are  viewed  as  models,  while 
our  libraries  and  fire  departments  attract  the  atten- 
tion of  foreigners  just  as  the  achievements  of  Euro- 
pean cities  attract  the  admiration  of  Americans. 


THE  AMERICAN  AND  EUROPEAN  CITY    361 

The  cities  of  the  New  World  are  not  all  bad  by  any 
means. 

Within  the  last  few  years  the  municipal  movement 
in  this  country  has  begun  to  assume  new  forms. 
The  individualism  of  a  half-century  ago  is  break- 
ing down  before  the  growing  consciousness  that  the 
city  can  only  protect  itself  by  undertaking  new  func- 
tions and  by  socializing  many  activities.  The  reform 
cries  of  a  generation  ago  are  being  superseded  by 
movements  for  home  rule  and  the  simplification  of 
the  city's  charter.  The  ballot  is  being  shortened, 
the  party  emblem  is  being  removed  from  the  ballot, 
while  the  initiative  and  referendum  are  being  added 
as  a  means  of  establishing  responsibility.  For  the 
first  time  cities  are  planning  public  structures  and 
suburban  developments  with  a  conscious  vision  of 
the  future,  while  election  issues  are  centring  about 
programmes  to  be  achieved  rather  than  individuals 
to  be  elected.  We  are  forming  new  ideals  and  de- 
veloping a  city  sense.  We  are  beginning  to  see  the 
city  as  a  conscious,  living  organism  which  the  archi- 
tect and  the  engineer,  the  educator  and  the  artist, 
the  administrator  and  the  dreamer,  can  build  and 
plan  for  the  comfort,  convenience,  and  happiness  of 
people,  just  as  kings  in  an  earlier  age  planned  their 
cities  for  the  gratification  of  their  ambition  and  the 
glorification  of  their  pride. 


INDEX 


Abattoirs,  p.  117 

Adickes,  Dr.,  pp.  74,  111,  222 

Administration.     See    German, 

British,  and  American  city 
Alster  Basin,  Hamburg,  p.  21 
America,  license  of  business,  p.  46 
American  city,  p.  10;  borrowing 
powers  of,  p.   152;  indebted- 
ness of,  p.  218;  lack  of  power, 
p.  254;  budget  of,  p.  256;  con- 
trol  by   special   interests,    p. 
322;   comparison  with   Euro- 
pean     city,      pp.      345-361; 
achievements  of,  p.  360;  new 
issues  in,  p.  361 
Architecture,  British  city,  p.  323 
Aristocracy,   Great   Britain,    p. 

324 
AustraUa,  taxation  of  land  val- 
ues, p.  203 


B 


Bahnhofplatz.    See  Railway  sta- 
tions 
Bakeries,  pubUc,  p.  115 
Bavaria,  suffrage  in,  p.  247 
Belgium,  transportation  and  dis- 
tribution of  population,  p.  185 
BerUn,  description  of,  pp.  22-25; 
slaughtering  in,  p.  120;  mar- 
kets of,  p.  124;  hospitals  and 
sanitariums,  p.  132;  rents  in, 
p.    159;   co-operative   houses, 
p.   165;  transit,  p.   182;  rev- 
enues of,  pp.  211,  212;  size  of 
council,  p.  237;  three-class  vot- 
ing system,  p.  244 


Bender,  Dr.  George  I.,  p.  222 

Birmingham,  reclamation  proj- 
ects in,  p.  281 

Board  of  Trade,  Great  Britain, 
p.  321 

Bradford,  p.  340 

Bremen,  p.  18 

Bridges  in  Germany,  p.  14 

British  city,  issues  in,  p.  276; 
honesty  of,  p.  282;  supervi- 
sion of,  p.  321;  no  debt  Umit, 
p.  322;  lack  of  beauty  in,  p. 
323;  appearance  of,  p.  324;  li- 
cense of  property  in,  p.  347 

Brooks,  Robert  C,  p.  195 

Budget  of  Diisseldorif,  pp.  62-64; 
of  German  city,  pp.  208-218; 
distinguishing  features  of,  p. 
208;  real  estate,  low  taxes 
on,  p.  209;  income  tax,  collec- 
tions from,  p.  209;  business 
taxes,  p.  210;  income  tax, 
terms  of,  p,  210;  BerUn,  col- 
lections of,  pp.  211,  212; 
Grundsteuer,  p.  211;  Gewerbe^ 
steuer,  p.  212;  liquor  licenses, 
p.  212;  department  stores,  p. 
212;  fees,  p.  213;  Hamburg, 
budget  of,  p.  213;  Munich, 
budget  of,  p.  214;  business 
men,  attitude  of,  toward  tax- 
ation, p.  215;  land  natural 
source  of  local  revenue,  p.  215; 
indebtedness,  European  cities, 
p.  216;  of  Berlin,  p.  216;  of 
British  cities,  p.  217;  of  Amer- 
ican cities,  pp.  217,  256 

Building,  regulations,  height  of, 
pp.  45,  94;  restrictions,  p. 
102.     See  Town  planning 


363 


364 


INDEX 


Bund  der  Boden  Reformer,  p. 
189 

Burgomaster,  pp.  38,  221,  226. 
See  German  city 

Burns,  Hon.  John,  p.  341 

Business  men,  license  in  America, 
p.  46;  attitude  of,  pp.  73,  248; 
Germany,  p.  112;  policy,  Ger- 
man cities,  p.  72 

Business  taxes,  Germany,  pp. 
210,  212 


Competitions,    town    planning. 

See  Town  planning 
Congestion.     See  Population. 
Continuation      and      technical 

schools,  Diisseldorf,  p.  59 
Co-operative  house-building,  p. 

162 
Council,  city,  in  Germany,  pp. 

237-239;   Great   Britain,   pp. 

293-308 
Courts,  commercial  and  trade,  p. 

54 


Canadian  cities,  taxation  of  land 
values  in,  p.  202 

Canals,  Germany,  p.  6 

Chamberlain,  Joseph,  p.  281 

Charity  administration,  Diissel- 
dorf, p.  55 

Charter,  German  city.  See  Ger- 
man city 

Charter,  Great  Britain  and 
America,  p.  220.  American 
city,  p.  350.  See  British  and 
American  city 

Checks  and  balances,  p.  352 

Cities.  See  German,  British 
and  American  cities 

City  growth,  p.  157;  effect  on 
housing,  p.  158.  See  Popula- 
tion 

City  halls,  Germany,  p.  70 

Civic  centres,  pp.  26,  28,  39, 102, 
104 

Civic  interest,  relation  to  mu- 
nicipal ownership,  p.  343 

Class,  control  by,  in  Prussia,  p. 
243;  in  Great  Britain,  p.  323 

Cleveland,  land  values  in,  pp. 
202-205 

College,  town  planning,  Berlin, 
p.  86 

College,  commerce,  p.  145 

Cologne,  p.  15;  streets  of,  p.  16; 
zone  system,  p.  102;  unem- 
ployment insurance,  p.  141 

Competition,  promotion  of,  in 
Germany,  p.  78 


D 

Death-rate,  tuberculosis,  reduc- 
tion of,  p.  132 

Debt  hmit,  municipal.  Great 
Britain,  p.  322 

Democracy  in  cities,  p.  359 

Distress  work,  p.  136 

Docks,  Diisseldorf,  p.  42;  Frank- 
fort, p.  75.     See  Harbors, 

Drama,  provision  for,  in  Ger- 
many, pp.  146,  147 

Dresden,  beauty  of,  p.  25; 
slaughter-house,  p.  119;  tran- 
sit in,  p.  181 

Diisseldorf,  pp.  37-67;  land-own- 
ership in,  p.  98;  growth  of  city, 
p.  223 


E 


Education,  expenditure  for,  Diis- 
seldorf, pp.  58-64;  American 
cities,  p.  60;  Germany,  p.  144; 
comparison,  Germany  and 
America,  p.  145 

Elberfeld  system,  p.  55.  See 
Charity 

Electric-Ughting  works,  Diissel- 
dorf, p.  50.  See  Municipal 
ownership 

Elementary  schools,  p.  59.  See 
Education , 

Elevated  railways,  BerUn,  p. 
183 


INDEX 


365 


Emergency   work,   p.   54.    See 

Working-people 
Employer,  Dusseldorf  model,  p. 

53 
English  city.    See  British  city. 
Essen,  p.  16;  housing  in,  p.  17; 

garden    colonies    in,    p.    17; 

Krupp  Company,  p.  17 
European  city,  comparison  with 

American  city,  pp.  345-361; 

not  democratic,  p.  359 
Excise,    saloon,  and  vice  ques- 
tions, p.  349 
Expenditures,  Dusseldorf,  p.  62. 

See  Budget 
Experts,  in  town  planning,  p.  88; 

in  German  cities,  p.  219.     See 

Chapter  XIII 
Exposition  halls,  Munich,  p.  30 
Exposition,  town  planning,  p.  89 
Express    and    delivery    service, 

street  railways,  p.  340 


Factories,    control    of,    Diissel- 

dorf,  p.  43 
Fares.     See  Street  railways 
Financing  city  projects,  Frank- 
fort, p.  80 
Fire  department,  Glasgow,  p.  273 
Food,    supervision    of,    Dussel- 
dorf, p.  57 
France,  labor  courts,  p.  140 
Franchises,  Great  Britain,  p.  322 
Frankfort,  railway  station,  p.  12; 
an    experiment    station,    pp. 
68-85;    zone  system,  p.  102; 
chamber  of  commerce,  p.  125; 
pawn-shop,  p.  139;  housing  in, 
p.   167;  transit,   p.   184;  un- 
earned increment  tax,  p.  193; 
223 
Free  cities,  Germany,  p.  18 
Freedom,  German  cities,  p.  201; 

in  taxation,  p.  209 
Free  port,  Hamburg,  p.  20 
Freistadt,  p.  69 


G 


Garden-city,  Dusseldorf,  p.  37 

Garden  colonies,  pp.  17,  27,  37, 
172;  British,  p.  286 

Gas,  municipal,  Dusseldorf,  p. 
50;  Manchester,  p.  280;  mu- 
nicipal ownership.  Great  Brit- 
ain, pp.  328-333.  See  Munici- 
pal ownership 

German  business  men,  attitude 
of,  p.  143 

German  city,  vision  of,  pp.  4,  71 ; 
population  of,  pp.  5,  7-10; 
agency,  industrial  develop- 
ment, p.  7;  description  of,  p. 
12;  streets,  type  of,  p.  16; 
water-fronts,  p.  18;  garden- 
cities,  pp.  27,  37;  hospitals,  p. 
27;  ideals,  pp.  35,  73;  compe- 
tition of,  p.  38;  attitude  of, 
toward  business,  p.  45;  for- 
ests, p.  46;  land  policies  of,  p. 
61;  city  halls,  p.  70;  business 
pohcy  of,  p.  72;  municipal 
ownership,  pp.  74,  111,  179; 
industrial  programme,  p.  77; 
financing  city  projects,  p.  80; 
town  planning  (see  Town 
planning);  growth  of,  p.  86; 
street  planning,  pp.  91,  100; 
street  building,  p.  95;  zone  sys- 
tem, p.  101;  grouping  pubUc 
buildings,  p.  102;  parks,  p. 
103;  slaughter-houses,  p.  117; 
social  policy  of,  pp.  125-142; 
education,  p.  144;  recreation, 
p.  146;  happiness  programme, 
p.  151;  housing,  pp.  156-176; 
land  values  in,  p.  159;  transit, 
pp.  177-188;  rivalry  of,  p.  225; 
honesty  of,  p.  251;  freedom  of, 
p.  253;  wide  powers  of,  pp. 
256,  347;  activities  of,  p.  257 

German  city,  administration  of, 
pp.  219-242;  experts,  p.  49; 
preparation  of,  p.  219;  charter, 
British,   American,   and  Ger- 


366 


INDEX 


man  cities,  p.  220;  composite 
nature  of  German  charter,  p. 
220;  burgomaster,  Germany, 
p.  221;  selection  of,  p.  221; 
length  of  service  of,  p.  222; 
city  building,  relation  of  ex- 
pert to,  p.  223;  examples  of,  p, 
222;  burgomaster  and  Amer- 
ican mayor,  comparison  of, 
p.  225;  burgomaster,  power  of, 
p.  226;  King  fountain-head  of 
administration,  p.  226;  Social- 
ist party,  relation  to  admin- 
istration, p.  227;  salaries,  bur- 
gomasters', p.  227;  dignity  of 
office,  p.  228;  magistrat,  p. 
228;  size  of,  p.  229;  generosity 
of  German  city  in  provision  for 
ofiBcials,  p.  230;  salaries  of 
magistrat,  p.  231;  method  of 
selection,  p.  232;  unpaid  mem- 
bers, p.  233;  city  agency  of 
state,  p.  234;  magistrat,  pow- 
ers of,  p.  234;  municipal  ser- 
vice permanent,  p.  236;  city 
council,  p.  237;  electoral  priv- 
ileges, p.  237;  town  council,  p. 
238;  laws  of  various  states,  p, 
240 
Germany,  industrial  ambitions, 

p.  264 
Gewerbesteuer.  See  Business  taxes 
Glasgow,  activities  of,   p,  271; 
housing  in,  p.  272;  fire  depart- 
ment of,  p.  273;  population  of, 
p.  274;  council  of,  p.  275;  mu- 
nicipal   ownership,     p.     334; 
street  railways,  p.  337.     See 
Municipal  ownership 
Greek  cities,  freedom  of,  p.  259 
Grouping  pubUc  buildings,  Vi- 
enna, p.  32.    See  Civic  centres 

H 

Hamburg,  pp.  18-21 ;  budget  of, 

p.  213 
Hanseatic  League,  p.  18 
Harbors:  Hamburg,  p.  20;  Diis- 


seldorf,  p.  42;  Frankfort,  p.  75; 
general,  p.  106.     See  Docks 

Health,  provision  for,  p.  27;  pro- 
gramme, Diisseldorf,  p.  56 

Height  of  buildings,  restriction 
of,  Diisseldorf,  p.  45.  See 
Town  planning 

Hellerau,  p.  27.  See  Garden 
cities 

Herbergen,  p.  135 

High-schools,  Diisseldorf,  p.  59 

Holy  Roman  Empire,  p.  69 

Home  rule,  German  city,  p.  253; 
effect  on  people,  p.  258 

Hospitals  and  sanatoriuros,  pp. 
27,  56 

Housing,  Essen,  p.  17;  condi- 
tions, Vienna,  p.  31;  working- 
classes,  p.  52;  reform,  Frank- 
fort, p.  79 

Housing  problem,  Germany,  pp. 
156-176;  is  a  land  problem,  p. 
156;  scientific  study  of,  p.  158; 
planning  related  to,  p.  158; 
increase  in  land  values,  rela- 
tion of,  to,  p.  159;  Berlin,  land 
and  building  values  in,  p.  160; 
congestion,  in  Berlin,  p.  160;  in 
other  cities,  p.  160;  poUcies  of 
German  cities,  p.  161;  part  of 
town  planning,  p.  161;  health 
and  sanitation,  p.  162;  insur- 
ance administration,  p.  163; 
loans  for  house  construction, 
p.  164;  Berlin,  co-operative 
building,  p.  165;  community 
apartments,  p.  166;  municipal 
building  in  Frankfort,  p.  167; 
in  Ulm,p.  168;  the  garden-city 
of  Hellerau,  p.  171;  of  Karls- 
ruhe, Ratshof ,  Nuremberg,  and 
Munich,  p.  172;  garden-city, 
meaning  of,  p.  173;  taxation, 
relation  to,  p.  173;  land  taxa- 
tion in  other  cities,  p.  174; 
Mayor's  Committee  on  Con- 
gestion, New  York,  p.  175;  ef- 
fect of  land-value  taxation,  p. 
175 


INDEX 


367 


Huysmann,  Camille,  p.  159 
Hygiene,  exposition  of,  p.  27 


Ideals,  German  cities,  pp.  35,  73 
Imperial    ambitions,    Germany, 

p.  5 
Income  taxes,  German  cities,  p. 

209 
Indebtedness,  Diisseldorf,  p.  63; 

Frankfort,    p.    72;    European 

cities,  p.  216;  British  cities,  p. 

217;  American  cities,  p.  217. 

See  Budget 
Indigent  employment,  p.  137 
Individualism    in    America,    p. 

347 
Industrial  ambitions,  Germany, 

p.  264 
Industrial  conditions,  attitude  of 

city,  p.  126 
Industrial   development,    cities' 

contributions  to,  p.  7;  Frank- 
fort, pp.  76,  77;  programme,  p. 

100 
Industries,  provision  for,  p.  100 
Insurance,  fire,  Hamburg,  p.  115; 

compulsory  state,  p.    128; 

funds,  use  for  housing,  p.  163 
Interior    Department,    Prussia, 

relation  to  cities,  p.  257 
Italian  cities,  freedom  of,  p.  260 
Italy,  slaughter-houses  in,  121 

K 

Kiaotchau,  pp.  190-191 
King,  fountain-head  of  munici- 
pal administration,  p.  226 
Kirschner,  Dr.  Martin,  p.  222 
Krupp  Company,  housing,  p.  17 


Labor  courts,  p.  139 

Labor  exchange,  Diisseldorf,  p. 

54 
Land    policies,    Vienna,   p.   33; 


German  cities,  p.  51;  specula- 
tion, control  of,  Dusseldorf, 
p.  52;  ownership,  Frankfort, 
p.  71;  control  and  ownership 
of,  pp.  90-100;  ownership  by 
cities,  pp.  96-98;  speculation, 
effect  on  housing  problem,  p. 
156;  values,  relation  to  hous- 
ing, p.  159;  values  in  Berlin,  p. 
159;  Ulm,  p.  170;  taxation 
and  housing,  pp.  173-175; 
assessments,  Prussia,  p.  192; 
values,  social,  p.  206;  natural 
source  of  revenue,  p.  215;  land- 
value  taxation,  Glasgow,  p. 
274 

Legal-aid  department,  Diissel- 
dorf, p.  54 

Leisure,  provision  for,  Germany, 
p.  146.     See  Recreation 

Lex  Adickes,  p.  81 

License  taxes,  Germany,  p.  212 

Liverpool,  tenement  districts, 
p.  284;  housing  experiments, 
p.  284;  tramways  of,  pp. 
284-286;  street  railways,  p. 
337 

Lloyd  George  budget,  p.  201 

Local  Government  Board,  Great 
Britain,  p.  321 

Local  taxation,  Europe  and 
America,  p.  215 

London  County  Council,  p.  321 

Lord  provost,  Glasgow,  p.  273 

Liibeck,  p.  18 

M 

Magistrat.  See  German  city  ad- 
ministration 

Manchester,  attitude  of  officials, 
p.  277;  ship  canal,  p.  277; 
tramways  of,  pp.  279,  337;  gas, 
p.  280 

Mannheim,  p.  35;  zone  system, 
p.  101;  budget  of,  p.  214 

Manual  training,  Germany,  p. 
145 

Markets,  pubhc,  pp.  121-124 


368 


INDEX 


Marx,  Dr.  Wilhelm,  pp.  39,  223 

Mayor's  Committee  on  Conges- 
tion, New  York,  p.  175 

Mortgage  bank,  Diisseldorf,  p. 
52 

Munich,  pp.  28-31;  water  sup- 
ply, p.  154 

Municipal  administration.  See 
Administration,  German,  Brit- 
ish, and  American  cities 

Municipal  exposition  halls,  p.  30 

Municipal  issues  in  American 
and  European  cities,  p.  348 

Municipal  forests,  p.  46 

Municipal  ownership,  Diissel- 
dorf, pp.  50,  70;  Germany  and 
England,  pp.  Ill,  112;  Europe, 
pp.  179,  187;  earnings  of,  in 
Germany,  p.  214;  in  Mann- 
heim, p.  214;  indebtedness,  p. 
217;  Glasgow,  p.  272;  Man- 
chester, pp.  278-280;  Liver- 
pool, p.  284;  pubUc  service 
corporations  in  America,  p. 
283;  effect  of,  on  community, 
pp.  266,  326,  356;  gas.  Great 
Britain,  pp.  328-344;  extent 
of,  p.  328 

Music,  provision  for,  Diissel- 
dorf, pp.  61, 148.  See  Leisure 
and  Recreation 

N 

New  sources  of  revenue,  need  of, 

p.  189 
New  York  City,  land  values  in, 

p.  205 
Nominations    and    elections, 

America,  p.  354 


Paris,  markets  of,  p.  123 

Parks,  p.  103;  concerts  in,  p. 
148 

Parkways,  Diisseldorf,  p.  39 

Parhament,  control  of  cities, 
Great  Britain,  322;  attitude 
toward  British  city,  p.  325 

Pawn-shops,  Diisseldorf,  pp.  54, 
138 

Planning,  town,  Hamburg,  Ber- 
Un,  p.  22;  Munich,  p.  29;  Vi- 
enna, p.  31;  Paris,  p.  32; 
Budapest,  p.  34;  Diisseldorf, 
pp.  37-67;  competitions,  p.  48; 
docks  and  harbors,  Frankfort, 
p.  75;  general,  pp.  86-110;  re- 
lation to  housing,  pp.  158, 161 ; 
Ulm,  p.  169.  See  Town  plan- 
ning 

Playgrounds,  p.  104;  in  Ger- 
many, p.  150 

Population,  lu-ban,  Germany, 
pp.  5,  7;  and  America,  p.  11; 
Dusseldorf,  p.  37;  FranHort, 
p.  70;  congestion,  p.  160 

Port  Sunlight,  p.  286 

Private  bill  legislation,  Great 
Britain,  p.  321 

Property,  rights  of,  in  America, 
p.  109;  absence  of  regulation 
of,  in  America,  p.  345 

Prussian  cities,  indebtedness  of, 
p.  218 

Psychology,  municipal,  p.  326; 
poUtical,  p.  355 

Pubhc  ownership,  idea  old  in 
Germany,  p.  263 

Public  service  corporations,  ac- 
tivity of,  p.  283 


O 


Overcrowding,  street  railways,  p. 
340 


Parcels  poet,  in  Germany,  p.  116; 
in  Great  Britain,  p.  116 


Railways  and  industry,  p.  6;  and 
community,  p.  14;  in  Europe, 
pp.  178,  184 

Railway  stations,  p.  12;  Frank- 
fort, p.  12,  69;  in  America,  p. 
13 

Rathaus.  Frankfort,  p.  68 


INDEX 


369 


Real  estate  interests,  activity  of, 
p.  249 

Real  estate  taxes,  Germany,  pp. 
209,  211 

Recreation,  Hamburg,  p.  21; 
Munich,  p.  28;  Diisseldorf,  pp. 
40,  61;  general,  146,  147;  ex- 
penditures for,  151.  See  Lei- 
sure, Music,  Playgrounds 

Refuse  collection,  Frankfort,  p. 
84 

Renting  agencies,  p.  135 

Rents  in  Berlin,  p.  160 

Rhine.     See  River 

Ring-strassen,  Cologne,  p.  15; 
Vienna,  p.  32;  Frankfort,  pp. 
72,  105 

River  Rhine,  description  of,  p. 
18;  improvement  of,  Dresden, 
p.  26;  Diisseldorf,  p.  41 

Romer,  Frankfort,  p.  69 

Rothenberg,  p.  25 


Street  railways,  Hamburg,  p.  19; 
Diisseldorf,  p.  50;  Dresden,  p. 
181;  Glasgow,  p.  271;  Man- 
chester, p.  279;  Liverpool,  p. 
284;  municipal  ownership, 
Great  Britain,  pp.  334-344. 
See  Transit  and  municipal 
ownership 

Streets,  type  of,  p.  16;  Diissel- 
dorf, p.  46;  Frankfort,  p.  81; 
cleaning,  p.  83,  planning  of, 
Germany  and  America,  p.  92; 
variety  of,  p.  93;  building  of, 
pp.  95,  103.  See  Town  plan- 
ning 

Stuttgart,  planning  develop- 
ments, p.  88 

Suburban  planning,  see  Plan- 
ning 

Stidekum,  Dr.  Albert,  p.  114 

Suffrage,  Prussian  cities,  p.  243 


S 


Salaries,  German  burgomasters, 
p.  227 

Saloon  question,  p.  349 

Sanatoriums,  p.  131.  See  Hos- 
pitals 

Sanitation  and  hygiene,  Diissel- 
dorf, p.  56 

Savings-banks,  municipal,  p. 
139 

School  buildings,  Diisseldorf,  p. 
57 

Sewage-disposal  farms,  Berlin, 
p.  23 

Shaw,  Dr.  Albert,  p.  254 

Sheffield,  street  railways,  p.  337 

Single  tax,  meaning  of,  p.  193 

Slaughter-houses,  Dresden,  p.  27; 
Diisseldorf,  p.  57;  and  slaugh- 
tering, pp.  117-119 

Speculation.  See  Land  and 

land-value  taxation 

Spoils  system,  none  in  Germany, 
p.  236 


Tariff,  relation  of  free  cities  to, 
p.  21 

Taxation,  Diisseldorf,  p.  62;  of 
land  values  and  housing,  pp. 
173-175;  relief  of,  from  mu- 
nicipal ownership,  pp.  332, 
339.  See  Bridges  and  Un- 
earned increment  tax 

Theatre,  expenditures  for,  p. 
151 

Town  planning  and  city  build- 
ing, pp.  86-110;  birth  of,  in 
Germany,  p.  86;  necessity  for, 
p.  87;  universality  of,  in  Ger- 
many, p.  88;  Stuttgart,  plans 
of,  p.  88;  Diisseldorf,  uni- 
versity town  planning,  p.  89; 
exposition  of,  p.  89;  city  wi- 
dening plans,  p.  90;  competi- 
tions for,  p.  90;  land,  treat- 
ment of,  p.  91;  streets,  plan- 
ning of,  p.  92;  Washington, 
plan  of,  p.  92;  new  ideas  in 
streets,  p.  93;  building  regu- 


370 


INDEX 


lations,  p.  95;  land  control,  p. 
96;  land-ownership  in  Ger- 
many, p.  96;  Diisseldorf,  land 
policy  of,  p.  98;  control  of  land, 
p.  100;  zoning  system,  p.  101; 
parks  and  open  spaces,  p.  103; 
preservation  and  beauties  of 
cities,  p.  103;  grouping  public 
buildings,  p.  104;  playgrounds 
and  parks,  p.  104;  water-ways, 
preservation  of,  p.  105;  for- 
tifications, use  of,  p.  105; 
harbor  and  transportation 
agencies,  p.  106;  license  of 
property  in  America,  p.  107; 
America,  water-fronts,  p.  108; 
city  planning,  philosophy  of, 
p.  108.     See  Planning 

Tramways.  See  Street  rail- 
ways 

Transit  in  Europe,  Diisseldorf, 
p.  41;  pp.  177-188;  a  social 
agency,  p.  177;  municipal 
ownership  in  Europe,  p.  179; 
service,  p.  180;  zone  system, 
p.  181 ;  Dresden,  street  cars  in, 
p.  181;  Berlin,  p.  182;  Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main,  policy  of,  p. 
183;  steam  railways, Germany, 
p.  184;  in  Switzerland,  Bel- 
gium, and  Denmark,  pp.  184- 
185;  municipal  ownership,  suc- 
cess of,  p.  187.  See  Street 
railways  and  municipal  owner- 
ship 

Tuberculosis,  war  up>on,  p.  131; 
sanatoriums,  p.  133 


U 


Ulm,  housing  in,  p.  168 

Unearned  increment  taxes,  pp. 
189-207;  need  of  new  rev- 
enues, p.  189;  origin  of  tax,  p. 
189;  Kiaotchau,  new  harbor  in 
China,  development  of,  p.  190; 
land  tenure,  Kiaotchau,  p. 
191;    method    of   assessment, 


Prussia,  p.  192;  effect  of  new 
taxes,  p.  192;  Frankfort,  or- 
dinances of,  p.  194;  spread  of 
unearned  increment  tax,  p. 
195;  imperial  measure,  p.  196; 
the  Lloyd  George  budget  of 
Great  Britain,  p.  201;  Cana- 
dian experiences,  p.  202;  Aus- 
tralian experiments,  p.  203; 
American  proposals,  p.  205; 
land  values  in  New  York  and 
Cleveland,  p.  205;  reforms  for 
unearned  increment  tax,  p.  206 
UnemplojTnent  insurance,  p.  141 


Vienna,  pp.  31-34 
Virchow  Hospital,  p.  132 
Visions,  city,  Diisseldorf,  p.  56; 
Frankfort,  71 

W 

Wagner,  Professor  Adolf,  p.  192 
Wandering    workers,    provision 

for,  p.  135 
Washington,  plans  of,  p.  92 
Water     communications,     Ger- 
many, p.  6 
Water-fronts,  Rhine  cities,  p.  18 
Water  supply,  Mimich,  p.  154 
Water-ways,  improvement  of,  p. 
41;  planning  of,  p.  105;  Amer- 
ica, p.  107.     See  Town  plan- 
ning 
Wertzuwachssteuer.  See  Unearned 

Increment  Tax 
Widening,  city  projects,  p.  90 
Workingmen's  railway  tickets,  p. 

183 
Working-people,  what  the  Ger- 
man city  does  for,  pp.  125-142 


Zone  system,  pp.  101,  102  (see 
Town  planning);  Diisseldorf, 
p.  44;  Glasgow,  p.  335 


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